The Trump administration is in talks with the Democratic Republic of Congo to resettle 1,100 Afghans who’ve been stranded in Qatar awaiting U.S. visas.
The discussions underscore the authorized hurdles dealing with Afghans who fled the Taliban after U.S. immigrant visa processing for Afghan nationals was successfully halted, leaving them in limbo greater than 4 years after the U.S. withdrawal from Kabul.
Shawn VanDiver, founder and president of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of veterans and advocacy {groups}, stated that U.S. officers had briefed him in regards to the plan to resettle the Afghans in Congo, which he described as unacceptable, partly due to power insecurity within the central African nation.
The Afghans are housed at Camp As Sayliyah, a former U.S. Military base in Qatar, the place they had been transferred to finish immigrant visa processing for entry into the USA. Some are relations of U.S. residents or labored for a U.S.-funded group in the course of the 20-year warfare.
However that processing floor to a halt after the Trump administration took workplace in January 2025.
Final June, the Trump administration included Afghanistan on an inventory of 12 nations topic to a journey ban, with a slim exemption for Particular Immigrant Visas (SIV) for Afghans who served alongside troops and diplomats.
In November, Washington stopped immigrant visa processing for all Afghan nationals following the lethal capturing of two U.S. Nationwide Guard members by an Afghan former CIA-backed paramilitary unit member.
A federal choose dominated in February that the ban on Afghan SIV visa processing was unlawful, however processing is successfully at a standstill.
A State Division spokesperson stated in an e-mail late on Tuesday that resettling the Afghans in a 3rd nation can be a constructive resolution that may give them an opportunity to begin a new life exterior of Afghanistan.
Esther Ndu
Times Nigeria