Afghan evacuees kept in hellish conditions at Doha airbase: Report

Washington/Doha: The sweltering air base in Doha where the US is housing thousands of Afghan evacuees has been described as a “living hell’, awash with loose faeces and urine and rat infestation, according to a news report.

At the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha where the US troops offloaded thousands of Afghan evacuees who were made to stay inside a massive hangar with just one toilet, the conditions are dire, says a report by website Axios, citing leaked emails.

It says the conditions there shows how the US was unprepared to receive thousands of desperate Afghans in a safe and sanitary environment.

"We recognize this is a challenging and difficult situation for these vulnerable individuals and families, and we remain committed to providing a secure, safe and sanitary environment," said Navy Capt William Urban, a spokesperson for US Central Command.

"It has been challenging to keep up with the flow, but we have made progress in caring for and safeguarding these vulnerable individuals and in getting them moving onward," Urban told Axios.

The email by supervisory special agent Colin Sullivan — with subject line "Dire conditions at Doha" — went to officials at the State Department and the Pentagon. It described "a life-threatening humanitarian disaster … that I want to make sure all of you are fully tracking."

"While not in any way downplaying the conditions in Kabul nor the conditions the Afghanis [sic] are escaping from, the current conditions in Doha are of our own doing," the mail said.

The Pentagon told Axios it has taken concrete steps to improve conditions on the ground, including installing more than 100 toilets and offering 7,000 traditional Afghan meals, three times a day.

A State Department spokesperson said, “We are working quickly to alleviate bottlenecks and are surging consular personnel in Qatar, in addition to expediting manifesting, to alleviate current conditions."

On Sunday, "more than 3,700 individuals were transported to follow-on destinations in the United States, Germany and Italy," said the spokesperson. "Our goal is to process them for onward destinations within a few days of arrival."

The US State Department did little to advise the Defense Department about how to build appropriate facilities to house thousands of Afghan refugees, according to the US government official who read out the emails to Axios.

The official said the US Central Command was doing the best it could under appalling conditions and inadequate forethought and contingency planning from the State Department and White House, Axios said.

In his email, Colin Sullivan — a veteran member of the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service now serving as a liaison to US Central Command — shared what he said were "excerpts from Doha Embassy staff communications" about conditions at the Al Udeid base.

"A humid day today. Where the Afghans are housed is a living hell. Trash, urine, fecal matter, spilled liquids and vomit cover the floors."

"I spent an hour in there picking up trash ... almost suffocated."

"Another flight arrived and there's no resources to solve the sanitation problem."

"These human beings are in a living nightmare."

"No A/C."

"We're in the middle of humanitarian crises [sic] that compounds itself with every flight that lands in Doha."

"Hangar update. They now have a rat problem."

Al Udeid is a major military airport in Qatar. Along with Kuwait, Al Udeid provides the closest staging area to Afghanistan both to import U.S. troops securing Kabul's airport and to export U.S. citizens and evacuees fleeing the country.

An official familiar with the flights and the airfield in Qatar told Axios the hangars at Al Udeid have no air conditioning, only large fans and evaporative "swamp coolers."

“It’s brutally hot," the official said. "The base is in the middle of a desert. There's nothing around it." (UNI)