Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby says the US is working on improving conditions for Afghan evacuees at a US airbase in Qatar after video footage obtained by media outlets showed them living in inhumane conditions.
Photos and video footage shared with Al Jazeera showed hundreds of Afghans crowded together in unsanitary conditions in a hangar at Al Udeid airbase in Qatar.
Afghan refugees who sent the pictures to Al Jazeera said they were being kept in the sweltering heat where several people had fainted as they waited in long queues to use the toilet or receive food and water. Most did not have any spare clothes and were unaware of what their final destinations would be.
Responding to the reports, Kirby said nobody was making excuses for the conditions at the base. "Everybody's focused on trying" to improve the conditions, Kirby told Axios on Tuesday.
Washington Post reported on Saturday that rush of Afghan evacuees to Qatar leaves many crammed in hot hangar, facing an uncertain future. "The crush of civilians fleeing Afghanistan has threatened to overwhelm the air base here where most have been flown, leaving many evacuees crammed in a sweltering hangar without adequate toilets and showers as U.S. officials scramble to expand capacity and open new receiving points in the Middle East and Europe."
The US reached a deal with Qatar for the nation to take in 8,000 Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants and their family members, according to CNN. The US military has chosen more locations for evacuees to be sent temporarily, including Ramstein Air Base in Germany, locations in Italy, Spain and Bahrain, CNN quoted Kirby as saying.
2000 Afghan refugees to be settled in Uganda
A group of Afghan refugees including men, women and children has been transported to Uganda in a chartered flight, said authorities in a statement.
It is the first batch of the 2,000 Afghan refugees expected to be resettled in Uganda.
Their arrival follows a request from the US government to temporarily host "at-risk" Afghan nationals and others who are in transit to the United States and other destinations worldwide.
The US embassy in Kampala thanked Uganda for its
"generosity and hospitality toward these communities."
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