Fact sheet · Camp As Sayliyah, Qatar
More than 1,000 Afghan allies are stranded at a closing camp.
The United States flew these families to Qatar after vetting them, and promised the camp would be a brief stop on the way to America. Years later, with relocation pathways frozen and the facility slated to close, they remain in limbo. This is where things stand, and what has to happen next.
Last updated August 31, 2026
The situation
Brought to Qatar by the United States, and told it was temporary.
The Afghan families at Camp As Sayliyah were vetted by the U.S. government and flown to Qatar on U.S. government flights. They were told the camp would be a temporary step before relocation to the United States. Today 1,039 Afghan wartime allies and their families remain there, as relocation pathways to the United States stay suspended and the facility prepares to close.
Camp As Sayliyah was never meant to be a home. It was the central international processing hub for the Enduring Welcome relocation program, and the families there were supposed to be passing through.
What Camp As Sayliyah is
The flagship transit hub for Enduring Welcome.
Camp As Sayliyah, or CAS, is a U.S.-managed transit facility near Doha, Qatar. After the fall of Kabul in August 2021, the United States and the Government of Qatar repurposed the site to support the relocation of Afghan wartime allies and their families. It became the flagship international processing site for Enduring Welcome, the interagency effort designed to keep relocating vetted Afghan partners after the emergency evacuation ended.
At CAS, Afghan applicants could complete final identity and security verification, receive medical screening and documentation review, finalize immigration processing, and await travel to the United States. It was, in effect, the last stop before home.
The camp today
Who is there now.
As of August 2026, 1,039 Afghan wartime allies and family members reside at CAS. Of them, 752 are women and children and 287 are men. Nineteen of the women are pregnant. Operating the camp costs roughly $15 million every month, even as no one moves forward.
Women and children first
The overwhelming majority of residents, 752 of the 1,039, are women and children. Nineteen women at the camp are pregnant, waiting out their pregnancies in temporary housing far from the country that processed their cases.
Frozen pathways
Residents are split between the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, paused since January 20, 2025, and U.S. consular pathways such as Special Immigrant Visas. Both routes to the United States are effectively stalled.
U.S. military families among them
The camp includes immediate family members of active-duty and recently separated U.S. service members, reported at roughly 150, caught by the same freeze as everyone else.
$15 million a month
The United States spends about $15 million each month to keep the camp running. It is paying a premium to hold vetted allies in limbo rather than complete the relocations it already approved.
Who the residents are
People who worked alongside the United States.
Many residents served the U.S. mission in Afghanistan directly. Among them:
- Interpreters who translated for U.S. forces
- Contractors who supported U.S. military operations
- Civil society partners, educators, and development professionals
- Attorneys and judges who put Taliban members in prison
- Partner forces who trained, fought, and bled alongside the U.S. military
Because of that cooperation, many face serious threats from the Taliban. They cannot safely return to Afghanistan.
Screening and vetting
Vetted before they ever boarded the plane.
Residents underwent extensive screening before being transferred to Qatar: interviews with U.S. officials, biometric collection, background investigations, medical examinations, and interagency security screening.
Afghan families were vetted before being transported to Camp As Sayliyah on U.S. government flights. Everyone moved to the camp had already undergone significant security screening and identity verification prior to departure.
They were moved to Qatar expecting CAS to be a temporary step before relocation. Instead, all residents have now spent more than a year at the camp. Many sold their homes and belongings before leaving Afghanistan, on the assurance that processing would continue. They cannot safely return, and they cannot permanently remain in Qatar. The suspension of refugee admissions and other restrictions halted processing for many of their cases, leaving them in prolonged uncertainty.
Security
War overhead, temporary shelter below.
The regional security environment has put residents at real physical risk. During the June 2025 escalation involving Israel, Iran, and the United States, missile interceptions over Qatar sent debris falling near and into residential housing areas at the camp. Residents reported fragments entering the units where families live and sleep, and warning alarms forcing families and children to run for safety.
Afghan families who fled one war found themselves watching missile intercepts overhead while living in temporary containers with no hardened shelter.
The closure
A deadline already missed, and a new one looming.
The U.S. government has told residents and Congress that Camp As Sayliyah will close. An initial deadline of March 31, 2026 to move residents to a third country passed without the promised transfers taking place. Reporting now points to a closure deadline of September 30, 2026, and residents still have not been told which countries would take them.
Public reporting indicates the administration has weighed sending residents to a third country such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A separate transfer of 27 Afghans to Rwanda in August 2025 left those families stuck there months later, with relocation promises unfulfilled. Relocating CAS residents permanently to countries they have no ties to would divert them away from the country that processed and cleared their cases, disrupt years of vetting as clearances expire, and separate families from relatives already living in the United States.
Instead of completing relocation to the United States, many Afghan allies may be permanently diverted to countries where they have no ties and were never processed for resettlement.
What should happen
Move them to safety, and finish what we started.
Residents should be moved to safety. If relocation to the United States cannot happen immediately, the U.S. government should coordinate safe temporary resettlement in partner countries while immigration processing continues, rather than abandoning cleared cases in a permanent diversion. These are vetted allies. The United States started this process. It should finish it.
Strategic impact
Closing CAS dismantles the pipeline itself.
Camp As Sayliyah is the primary, and now effectively the only, international transit hub supporting the Enduring Welcome relocation pipeline. Closing it does more than displace the families inside.
- The United States loses a key facility used to process Afghan partners abroad
- Relocation pipelines become significantly harder to operate
- Future evacuations and crisis relocations face greater logistical constraints
Why this matters now
Three pressures converging at once.
Three developments have arrived together: relocation pathways to the United States have been suspended, the U.S. government has announced plans to close Camp As Sayliyah, and the regional security environment has deteriorated. Together they leave 1,039 Afghan wartime allies and their families in prolonged transit with no clear path forward.
The absence of a clear, articulated U.S. policy toward these Afghan allies has compounded the crisis, adding confusion and fear to an already untenable situation.
Reference timeline
How we got here.
For reporters
Key context.
- Residents were relocated to Qatar under U.S. authority while awaiting immigration processing
- Many have already completed significant screening and review
- Camp As Sayliyah was designed as a temporary transit facility, not a long-term camp
Camp As Sayliyah houses more than 1,000 Afghan wartime allies and their families who were moved there by the United States while awaiting relocation. They were vetted before being transported to Qatar on U.S. government flights and entered a U.S.-run relocation pipeline expecting eventual travel to the United States. With refugee admissions halted and the camp scheduled to close, many now face the possibility of being diverted to third countries despite having already completed significant U.S. processing.
Go deeper
More from AfghanEvac.
In the press
This fact sheet summarizes public reporting and AfghanEvac's assessment of conditions at Camp As Sayliyah for informational purposes. Figures marked for confirmation reflect public reporting and should be reconciled with AfghanEvac's current internal data before publication. Nothing here is legal advice.