US to close Qatar camp that housed Afghans who fled their country in 2021

By Hadriana Lowenkron

 

The US plans to shut down a camp it established in Qatar for Afghans who fled their country in the wake of the US withdrawal in 2021 and relocate those housed there, a decision that is prompting an outcry from congressional Democrats and nongovernmental organizations. 

The Trump administration is moving to shut down Camp As Sayliyah by March 31, according to a State Department spokesperson, with plans to fully demobilize the facility by the end of the current fiscal year. 

 

The US has no plans to send those at the camp back to Afghanistan, the spokesperson added, casting the decision as one that would allow those leaving the facility to start new lives in third countries while also protecting the safety of Americans. The State Department didn’t specify to which countries they would be going.

 

The decision marks the latest move by President Donald Trump’s administration targeting Afghans who migrated to the US or are seeking to do so, part of a broader immigration crackdown. That push intensified after the November 2025 shooting of two National Guard troops by an Afghan national who had worked with US forces in the country and was resettled under a program put into place by former President Joe Biden.

 

Trump has assailed his predecessor’s administration, claiming that they did not properly vet Afghan nationals allowed into the US after the Taliban took over that country in 2021. A report released in 2025 from the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Justice, though, found that the FBI properly handled their role screening and vetting tens of thousands of evacuees during that period.

 

The department had notified Congress Wednesday of its intentions to shutter the camp in briefings with the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to two people familiar with the matter who discussed the decision before it was publicly announced.

 

Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a Wednesday statement that the State Department notified the committee of the plans. He called the move “the latest reckless step by the Trump administration to dismantle every remaining pathway for these allies to safely relocate in the United States.”

 

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, said most Afghans at the camp have “clear pathways to resettle in the United States, and I urge the administration to honor the commitments we made to honor their sacrifices.”

 

There are about 1,100 people at the camp, according to AfghanEvac, a group that helps support Afghan allies and refugees who assisted the US in the war there. About 800 of them have been classified as refugees and have approval to come to the US. 

 

Since the November shooting, the Trump administration has announced it will again review the cases of all refugees resettled under the Biden administration and freeze their green card applications. On Wednesday, the administration said it will pause issuing immigrant visas for people from 75 countries including Afghanistan, Somalia and Iran.