Those still in the camp are struggling to fill their time, resting in the middle of the day to escape the desert heat and wandering down streets named after American states to help them navigate what their new home will be. Schooling is limited, especially for older students.
Twice in the past year, Iranian attacks have occurred near Qatar – once in retaliation for US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities last June, and again during the US-Israeli war with Iran that began on February 28.
The camp offers poor protection against attacks, said Vandiver, whose group obtained several recordings of residents “terrified” by missiles being fired over their heads.
The arrival of Afghan allies to the US had already slowed as the Trump administration reshaped the US immigration system. But their hopes were dashed in November when a National Guard member was killed and another seriously injured in a shooting in Washington.
The suspect has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who served with US troops as part of an elite CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan. Lakanwal, who pleaded not guilty to nine federal charges last month, was granted asylum by the Trump administration after arriving in the US during the Biden administration last year.
Following the attack the Trump administration imposed harsh sanctions on Afghans, halting asylum decisions, suspending visa issuance for all Afghan citizens and detaining refugees already in the country.
Afghans at Camp As-Sailiyah condemned the attack, but said it was the act of an individual.
“We want to ask the U.S. government not to attribute the crime of one Afghan to all Afghans,” said Salimi, a woman named Salimi, a lawyer who has lived in the camp with her husband and two sons, ages 2 and 4.
Salimi, who asked to be identified only by his last name due to security concerns, was approved for U.S. resettlement because his legal work put him at risk of persecution by the Taliban.
She had her own law office, representing mostly women “who were poor, who were physically abused, who were seeking divorce.”
Many of her clients’ husbands were members of the Taliban, she said, some of whom were jailed for physical abuse or other crimes.
The night the Taliban returned to power, Salimi said, he received a call from an unknown number.
“You separated my wife from me and now she has married another man and has another life,” said the man on the other end of the line. “You have to pay the price for it.”
Soon, Salimi learns that the Taliban are looking for him. His office was closed, as his focus was on keeping a low profile and finding a way out.
She was eventually able to apply for a U.S. visa, a process she said took seven or eight months, including security checks.
Flying to Qatar in January 2025, Salemi was confident that his family’s future in the US was finally secure, but Trump’s return to the White House just two weeks later upended his plans, halting refugee resettlement and subsequently barring Afghan citizens from entering the US.
“Facing an uncertain future, our mind and spirit deteriorate day by day,” Salimi said. “What’s going to happen to our future? What are they going to do with us?”
Women in particular have suffered under the Taliban, who have banned them from school after the sixth grade, banned their voices and bare faces in public and suspended laws against rape and child and forced marriage.
breaking a promise
The U.S. government’s attitude toward Afghan allies and their families has saddened veterans like retired Army Lt. Col. Maria Smith, who served three tours in Afghanistan.
Translators like Mohammed were “absolutely critical to success”, making them the Taliban’s “primary target”, Smith said.
“There was this expectation and promise, like, if you help us, this is a way for you to come to America,” said Smith, who is vice president of No One Left Behind, an Arlington, Virginia-based nonprofit that advocates for Afghan and Iraqi allies.
“That’s why I think it was so sad for so many veterans when we got out of Afghanistan,” he said, “because many of us felt like we were complicit in breaking that promise.”
Dealing with Afghan allies could make people in other conflict zones “less willing to work with us,” he said.
Mohammed, who grew up in Kabul, signed up for the U.S. Army in 2009 as a combat interpreter. That year, he was seriously injured in Helmand province when an improvised explosive device detonated, killing the American Marine in front of him.
After his recovery, he was sent to Kabul to do non-combat translation work. But every day, he said, “the job of getting from your house to the office, you know, was just life and death.”
The risk was worth it, he said, “because of the value we saw in the international community in Afghanistan,” such as his sisters being able to go to school.
In 2014, he received what is known as a “special immigrant visa” and moved to Texas. He almost immediately enlisted in the U.S. Army to give back to the country that had changed his life.
After completing his service in 2016, Mohammed – now a US citizen – worked as a Defense Department contractor in Afghanistan until his return.
“It happened suddenly and it was extremely chaotic,” said Mohammed, who was in Kabul at the time. “I barely managed to get to the airport, get on the plane and get out.”
With the Taliban now back in power, people with links to the US military and their relatives were targeted. Mohammed’s family spent the next three years in hiding, his parents moving from place to place along with four daughters and two sons.
“We couldn’t all be together in one place,” said his father, a history teacher, also named Mohammed, who asked not to be fully identified for security reasons. “The Taliban intelligence services were constantly after us.”
The family moved to Qatar in 2024 after the younger Mohammed learned about a program to help Afghan relatives of American service members. “It was a huge sigh of relief for me,” he said.
When Trump returned to office, the family was fully prepared and just waiting for their US visas and plane tickets. “Now we don’t know our fate,” said the elderly Mohammed.
Several months ago, he said, people working at the camp began to say, “Why don’t you go back to Afghanistan? The country is peaceful and free now.” He said a representative of the State Department has offered funding to those wishing to return.
Mohammed and his family say returning would mean certain death. His 29-year-old sister Faizeh is trying to remain optimistic and says she hopes “Trump will change his mind in the near future.”
He added, “Sometimes we think that they will send us back by force. It is a very difficult worry.” “Especially for those of us who have nothing to fall back on.”
