More than 1,100 Afghans who worked alongside US forces during the two-decade war in Afghanistan are now being considered for resettlement in the Democratic Republic of Congo — a country in the grip of its own displacement crisis — after the Trump administration halted the program meant to bring them to the United States.

The discussions, first reported by the New York Times and confirmed to The Guardian by the non-profit AfghanEvac, represent a remarkable reversal for people who were evacuated to a former US base in Qatar precisely because cooperating with American forces made them targets under Taliban rule.

Wartime Allies, Indefinite Limbo

The group at Camp As-Sayliyah in Qatar includes military interpreters, Afghan commandos, and relatives of active-duty US service members. Roughly 400 of them are children, according to the New York Times. They have been stranded at the camp for approximately a year.

Shawn VanDiver, a US Navy veteran who leads AfghanEvac, told The Guardian that 900 of the 1,100 are eligible for resettlement in the United States under existing programs. For the remaining 200, Washington could negotiate with countries other than the DRC — a nation dealing with decades of conflict.

“The others should just come here,” VanDiver said. “This is an easy solve: ‘Hey, welcome to America.’” He noted that between 100 and 150 of the Afghans are family members of active-duty US service members, and more than 700 are women and children.

“They can come here — there’s no law that is preventing them,” VanDiver said of the 900 who qualify for US resettlement. The Department of Homeland Security, he argued, could allow them in with a simple policy change.

A Country in Crisis as Destination

The DRC is an unlikely haven. According to the UN Refugee Agency, 8.2 million people were internally displaced in the country as of September 2025, with that figure projected to reach 9 million by year’s end. The eastern provinces have seen fierce fighting between government forces and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. Over 517,000 refugees from neighboring countries — the Central African Republic, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan — are already sheltering in Congo, according to Deutsche Welle.

AfghanEvac has characterized the Congo proposal as a deliberate attempt to “manufacture a refusal.” In a statement, the organization laid out the logic: offer relocation to an active war zone, wait for the predictable rejection, then use that refusal as public justification for sending the Afghans back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

“You do not relocate vetted wartime allies, more than 400 of them children, from American custody into a country in the middle of its own collapse,” VanDiver said. “The administration knows this. It is the point.”

The State Department’s Position

A State Department spokesperson declined to confirm that the DRC was under consideration but said the US was pursuing “voluntary resettlement” options for the camp population. “Moving the [camp] population to a third country is a positive resolution that provides safety for these remaining people to start a new life outside of Afghanistan while upholding the safety and security of the American people,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the Afghans at Camp As-Sayliyah “do not currently have a viable pathway to the United States” and said the department was in routine communication with camp residents about resettlement — though details would not be disclosed due to their sensitivity.

Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, called the prospect of sending Afghan allies to the DRC “insane.” In a statement reported by AFP, Kaine said the US had told these Afghans it would help ensure their safety after they helped American forces, and that reneging on that promise would make it harder to build partnerships needed for future national security.

How We Got Here

More than 190,000 Afghans have been resettled in the United States since the Taliban reclaimed power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led international forces. The vast majority are living without incident.

The resettlement program, initiated under former president Joe Biden, initially enjoyed bipartisan support. President Trump ordered a halt to Afghan refugee processing after an Afghan man who had worked with US intelligence and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder shot two National Guard troops near the White House in November, killing one. Trump has since dismantled the broader US refugee resettlement program and set a March 31 deadline to close the As-Sayliyah camp entirely.

That deadline has passed. The 1,100 Afghans remain.

For people whose cooperation with US forces would likely mean death under Taliban rule, the choice between Congo and Afghanistan is not really a choice at all. VanDiver was blunt about what returning would mean: “death.” The DRC government does not appear to have publicly commented on the reported discussions.

Sources