Trump Administration Considers Sending 1,100 Stranded Afghan Allies to DR Congo

As per an advocacy organization, The Democratic Republic of Congo is set to take in 1100 Afghan refugees from Qatar. This comes after years of being stuck in Qatar waiting for their US visas due to legal and logistical issues surrounding Afghans fleeing the Taliban when Immigration Processing was brought to a halt on US military withdrawal from Kabul.  Unfortunately, many have been caught in limbo for over four years and aren’t sure what will happen next.

According to Reuters, Shawn VanDiver - Founder and President of #AfghanEvac (a coalition of veterans’ organisations and advocacy groups) - was briefed on this plan and described moving these Afghans to Congo as “unacceptable” based on Congo having a continuing inability to provide basic human rights and safety within its borders.

Afghans who were previously placed at Camp As Sayliyah (a former US Army base) in Qatar were initially moved there to complete visa processing for entry into the US. Some have family ties established with American citizens, while others worked directly for US government agencies or US-funded organizations during the 20 years of US presence and operations in Afghanistan.

Because of the new Trump administration taking office in January 2025, all processing of applications has halted and these Afghans have no further options available to them as there has been no processing of any further visa applications since that time.

In June of last year, the federal government expanded a travel ban that had already targeted 12 countries by adding Afghanistan to the list of countries whose visitors would not be permitted into the United States. The travel ban included a very limited exception to allow Afghans already holding Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) and having proudly served with both US troops and diplomats to enter the US.

Seven months later, US residents of Washington, DC had continued to receive immigration processing and travel exemption updates. The process could be seen continuing but, on November 2, 2023, the DC Bureau ended immigrant visa processing to Afghanistan due to concerns about security following the shooting incident mentioned above.

In February, while a federal judge ruled the ban on Afghan SIV processing illegal, VanDiver reported the system to be in a "standstill" state. AfghanEvac reported on Tuesday that all 1,100 Afghan evacuees will have been vetted for relocation to create resumes and get work while awaiting resettlement.

Late Tuesday, the State Department responded via email to a question concerning resettlement. A spokesperson indicates relocation of the Afghan evacuees to another country can provide a "positive solution", enabling them to enter a new life outside Afghanistan. The spokesperson could not provide an answer as to whether Congo was one of the countries being considered. The Congolese Government was not available to provide comment. The New York Times has been the source of all reporting related to the resettlement proposal.

For many years, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has experienced ongoing conflict; however, there is currently an ongoing conflict with Rwandan-backed rebel groups, who expanded their territory into eastern DR Congo last year. Because of this ongoing conflict, VanDiver believes it is unlikely that Afghan individuals would agree to relocate to resettle in DR Congo due to the ongoing violent nature of life in DR Congo.

VanDiver is concerned that US officials may choose to use a potential refusal for Afghan individuals to relocate to DR Congo as a pretext for sending them back to Afghanistan.

"I worry that this is simply a way of the State Department sending these people back to statelessness or worse, returning them to death in Afghanistan. While many of these are women and children and relatives of US military personnel," said VanDiver.

According to VanDiver, the administration had previously tried to resettle the group in Botswana. VanDiver said the deal fell through after Botswana objected to a new US policy requiring its citizens to post a $15,000 bond for certain US visas. Sources told AFP that Taliban officials are expected in Brussels in the coming weeks for discussions.

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