The Biden administration has placed thousands of Afghan evacuees in facilities “awash with loose feces and urine and a rat infestation”, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing internal emails of a US Central Command official dated 20 August 2021.
Afghan refugees and their families were taken away from the Central Asian state amid a sweeping advance of the Taliban* and transported to Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar.
On 21 August, The Washington Post pointed out that the influx of Afghan civilians fleeing the Central Asian country “has threatened to overwhelm the air base [in Doha]… leaving many evacuees in a sweltering hangar without adequate toilets and showers”.
However, an email written by Colin Sullivan, who serves as a liaison between the State Department and US Central Command, has revealed that the lack of toilets and showers is only part of a bigger problem, shedding new light on the Biden administration's unpreparedness for the Afghanistan pull-out.
To illustrate his point, the supervisory special agent quoted “excerpts from Doha Embassy staff communications”. One of the messages reads that the Afghan evacuees “are housed” in a “living hell”: “Trash, urine, fecal matter, spilled liquids and vomit covers the floors”. Other messages reveal that there is no ventilation in the hangars housing the refugees. Unbearable stenches and lack of fresh air are amplified by summer heat as high as 103°F – 107°F (39.4C – 41.6C). Furthermore, the hangars…
