US Senator Calls Plan to Send Afghan Allies to Congo “Cruel and Shameful”

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Andy Kim has condemned reported plans to relocate more than 1,100 Afghan refugees from a camp in Qatar to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), calling the proposal “cruel and shameful.”

In a strongly worded statement on social media, Kim emphasized that the Afghans in question many of whom served as interpreters, contractors, and mission support personnel alongside U.S. forces had risked their lives in service of American objectives. He warned that forcing them to relocate to unfamiliar and potentially unstable countries would be a profound betrayal.

“I witnessed firsthand during my time at the U.S. State Department how Afghan partners assisted American missions under the most difficult and dangerous conditions,” Kim wrote. “These individuals and their families placed their trust in us. Proposals to send them to countries where they have no ties, no community, and no guaranteed protection are not just impractical they are cruel and shameful.”

Kim urged the Biden administration to uphold its moral and legal commitments to Afghan allies, calling instead for the swift completion of visa processing and resettlement in the United States or other safe, structured environments.

The senator’s remarks follow a report that the U.S. is considering relocating more than 1,100 Afghan evacuees from a holding facility in Qatar to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to sources, a return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan is being presented as the only alternative an option rights groups say would expose evacuees to severe retaliation, persecution, or worse.

Following the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, the United States airlifted over 190,000 Afghans, including special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants, interpreters, and their families. Many have since been resettled across the U.S. or in third countries such as Albania, Canada, and Germany. However, thousands remain in temporary facilities in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Kosovo, living in legal limbo amid persistent processing backlogs and bureaucratic delays.

Rights organizations and veteran advocacy groups have increasingly warned that relocating these individuals to countries like the DRC where ongoing conflict, limited infrastructure, and weak asylum frameworks pose significant risks could create new humanitarian catastrophes. Vulnerable families, unaccompanied minors, and former U.S. military partners could face detention, destitution, or deportation in the absence of formal protection agreements.

“These are people who stood with us when we needed them most,” said a representative of No One Left Behind, a veterans’ advocacy group. “Sending them to a country in the midst of its own security crisis is not a solution it’s an abdication of responsibility.”

The uncertainty surrounding the remaining Afghan refugees in Qatar underscores one of the most complex and unresolved humanitarian legacies of America’s longest war. With no immediate path to U.S. resettlement for many, and third-country solutions stalling, advocates are calling on Washington to expedite SIV processing, increase refugee admissions, and resist what they describe as “outsourcing” America’s moral obligations.

As Senator Kim put it: “We promised we would not forget them. It’s long past time we kept that promise.”

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