Afghans evacuated by US in chaos of withdrawal are languishing in foreign camps, documents reveal
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Exclusive: records show evacuees with pending applications to enter US ‘forced to remain in limbo’ in at least 36 countries, some in ‘untenable conditions’. Afghan citizens who fled the country with American assistance after the US’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan remain stranded in third countries, new documents shared exclusively with the Guardian suggest, some at prison-like facilities and many with no clarity about their prospects for resettlement.
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US officials won’t say exactly how many Afghans remain at such sites, where they were taken after the withdrawal that saw hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives during the Taliban’s lightning takeover in 2021. Some advocates estimate that “hundreds” remain stranded in temporary facilities in up to three dozen countries.
A set of government records published on Tuesday offers previously undisclosed details about the US government’s involvement with operations at these sites. The records describe family separations, deteriorating mental health conditions, inadequate facilities and fears of forcible repatriation.
The documents, which offer a snapshot up to the fall of 2023, were obtained by the Center for Constitutional Rights, Abolitionist Law Center, and Muslim Advocates following litigation against the Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security. Sadaf Doost, an attorney and human rights program manager at Abolitionist Law Center, told the Guardian that advocates filed the records requests to seek information about conditions at a half dozen sites where they knew Afghans were being held. But the documents they obtained indicate that evacuated Afghans with pending applications to enter the US have been “detained, held, or otherwise forced to remain in limbo” in at least 36 countries, the groups wrote in a briefing guide.
