KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – AfghanEvac, a U.S.-based nonprofit supporting “Afghan allies,” says the U.S. government is reportedly offering cash payments to Afghan refugees at Qatar’s Camp As Sayliyah to abandon their resettlement to the United States and return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
In a statement on Thursday, Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, said that approximately 800 people, approved under the Enduring Welcome program as refugees, were reportedly offered around $4,500 each to leave the camp and return to Afghanistan.
The refugees include Afghan prosecutors, lawyers, and former US partners who assisted American forces during the two-decade conflict in Afghanistan. AfghanEvac warned that these individuals would face persecution, violence, or death if forced back under Taliban rule.
“They are exactly the people the Taliban has vowed to punish,” VanDiver said. “Offering money under these conditions does not make return voluntary; it makes it coercive.”
VanDiver added that paying refugees who have already been approved for resettlement and remain in US facility to accept what he described as a “life-threatening return” would violate international law and US refugee obligations. “This is not a humanitarian option. It is a bribe to accept death,” the statement reads.
AfghanEvac called for immediate transparency from the US administration and urgent congressional oversight, saying the public deserves to know who authorized the offer, under what legal authority it was made, and why the United States is, in its words, “walking away at the final mile” of the resettlement process.
US officials have yet to comment on the allegation.
Camp As Sayliyah, a US military facility near Doha, has been used since 2021 to temporarily house Afghan evacuees awaiting resettlement. Thousands of Afghans passed through the camp following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power. The exact number of refugees still at the facility remains unclear.
The move comes amid broader shifts in US immigration and foreign policy under President Donald Trump. Shortly after taking office in January 2025, Trump signed an executive order pausing refugee admissions to the United States, including for Afghans who assisted American forces.
In November 2025, following a shooting in Washington involving an Afghan national who killed a US National Guard member and injured another, Trump ordered a halt to all Afghan settlement programs and visa issuance for Afghan passport holders. He also directed a full review of Afghans admitted to the United States during the Biden administration.
These policy changes affected thousands of Afghans awaiting relocation to the United States from third countries, including former interpreters, contractors, and civil society workers who supported U.S. operations over two decades. Many remain at risk under Taliban rule or are stranded in neighboring countries with limited legal protections.
Refugee advocacy groups, US lawmakers, UN officials, and human rights organizations have expressed concern over the US approach, urging the administration to continue offering protection to Afghans at risk and reverse policies that block their resettlement to the United States.
