Qatar air base holding Afghan refugees is a 'sweltering living hell' covered in 'rats, feces and urine', leaked US Central Command memo reveals
A leaked memo from an official at US Central Command reportedly describes the Biden administration's housing situation for Afghan refugees at the Al Udeid air base in Qatar as a 'living hell' where 'trash, urine, fecal matter, spilled liquids and vomit cover the floors.'
'Hangar update. They now have a rat problem,' the message obtained by Axios states.
The memo, sent last Friday by Supervisory Special Agent Colin Sullivan, was written to State Department and Pentagon officials with the subject line 'Dire conditions at Doha.'
US evacuation flights to the base were temporarily halted that same day due to overcrowding.
A total of 57 coalition flights and 37 US military flights evacuated roughly 21,600 people from Kabul within 24 hours as of 3 a.m. this morning, according to White House numbers released early Tuesday.
Since August 14 58,700 people have been evacuated.
Al Udeid has the capacity to accommodate roughly 10,000 people.
Hangars at Al Udeid Air Base filled with refugees late last week. The leaked memo claimed at least one hangar has a 'rat problem'
US military service members prepare a facility housing refugees with generators and air conditioning. A leaked memo from last week indicated the base, located in a desert, had no air conditioners set up
The White House has been touting its ramped-up evacuation effort this week after President Joe Biden was widely criticized for leaving American citizens, vulnerable Afghans, Afghans who aided US forces, and US military technology to the Taliban.
But the memo indicates that the government wasn't ready for the influx of people fleeing the militant group.
Sullivan included excerpts from 'Doha Embassy staff communications' that described squalid conditions for Afghans who escaped the Taliban.
'Another flight arrived and there's no resources to solve the sanitation problem,' the message reads.
'These human beings are in a living nightmare.'
Service members prepare to board evacuees onto a C-17 at Al Udeid Air Base. The State Department has said 'more than 3,700' people were sent to the US, Germany and Italy after staying at Al Udeid
'We're in the middle of humanitarian crises [sic] that compounds itself with every flight that lands in Doha.'
One official described conditions as 'brutally hot' and 'in the middle of a desert.'
Sullivan insisted that he was not 'downplaying the conditions in Kabul' or the circumstances Afghans 'are escaping from,' but points out that 'the current conditions in Doha are of our own doing.'
The Biden administration has touted its ramped-up evacuation efforts after bipartisan criticism
'I want to make sure all of you are fully tracking' the 'life-threatening humanitarian disaster,' he wrote to officials.
Major General Hank Taylor appeared to indirectly address the situation at Al Udeid, vowing in a press briefing Tuesday that the Pentagon is 'focused on building capacity' at staging areas like the Qatar bases.
'We are committed to doing more, and to continue to expand and improve our facilities- from adding shelter, to additional sanitation, handwashing stations, refrigerator trucks, providing cold water and the appropriate food, and we're working with our partners to increase this capacity.'
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby later added the Defense Department is 'aware of and as concerned as anybody' about the 'terrible sanitation conditions at Qatar.'
He blamed the number of people arriving at the base in a short time period - but conceded the US could have done better.
'Nobody here wants anyone to be less than safe, secure, comfortable and well cared for, as they go through this process. We take it very seriously. But we'll be the first to admit that, that there were conditions at Al Udeid - could have been better, they are improving now,' Kirby said.
'I'm not going to stand up here and tell you they're perfect, because they're not.'
When asked about COVID concerns over the thousands of refugees and US military personnel in crowded conditions, Kirby didn't go into specifics but said people were being screened 'at every stage of the process' but said the 'focus is on getting the numbers out.'
'We're not taking it for granted, we're taking it seriously.'
He didn't answer whether people who test positive are being pulled from flights.
The Pentagon still has no idea how many Americans or Afghan allies are left to evacuate in Afghanistan, but said 'hundreds' of Americans were evacuated in the last reported 24-hour window.
A child waits with her family from Afghanistan to board a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster lll at Al Udeid Air Base
The Pentagon installed more than 100 toilets in the area and is offering 7,000 traditional Afghan meals three times per day in an effort to improve conditions, the department told Axios.
The State Department told DailyMail.com in a statement it is 'working quickly to alleviate bottlenecks and are surging consular personnel in Qatar, in addition to expediting manifesting, to alleviate current conditions.'
'The State Department and Department of Defense have been in incredibly close coordination at every level, along with the rest of the interagency, to stand up these transit points and ensure that they are safe and have adequate provisions for those temporarily being housed. We have also worked closely to address issues as they arise and improve conditions as we learn of concerns,' a State Department spokesperson said.
They said the department is trying to process refugees for onward destinations within a few days of their arrival.
But an anonymous government official told Axios the State Department has not properly advised the Pentagon on housing facilities for refugees.
They accused the department and the White House of 'inadequate forethought and contingency planning.'
Al Udeid is one of the closest staging areas the US has to Afghanistan.
US flights there were temporarily halted Friday - the same day Sullivan sent the memo - after it reached capacity and officials labeled it a 'humanitarian disaster.'
But domestically, the US is looking to expand its intake of Afghans after they're processed at staging areas like Al Udeid.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that about 25,000 Afghan special immigrant visa (SIV) applicants will likely be resettled in the US along with their relatives.
The number is slightly higher than 22,000 SIVs the Pentagon said would be resettled last week.
Meanwhile US military bases in Wisconsin, Virginia, Texas and New Jersey are working to increase capacity for thousands of refugee arrivals.
'Our installations continue to rapidly build out capacity as needed to ensure reception, and providing humanitarian assistance,' Major General Hank Taylor said at the briefing with Kirby.
On Tuesday Kirby said the use of additional military installations is 'very well possible' to handle the influx.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorized the addition of 18 commercial aircraft from six airlines including United, American and Delta expedite the process.
At Wisconsin's Fort McCoy Army base, nearly 1,000 service members across multiple units are working on getting refugees adequate housing and support, a local NBC affiliate reports.
The base began taking in Afghan refugees on Sunday and is housing SIVs, their families and other vulnerable civilians.
At least 3,300 Americans have been evacuated since August 14. The Associated Press reported last week that up to 15,000 US nationals could still be in Afghanistan.
