DOHA — The State Department plans to close Camp As Sayliyah and remove all residents by March 31, 2026, a State Department spokesperson said. The camp outside Doha in Qatar hosts more than 1,100 Afghan men, women and children.

Camp As Sayliyah occupies a former U.S. military base in Qatar and is the only Afghan refugee site run directly by the U.S. government. Most residents have been approved for U.S. resettlement after extensive vetting.

The Trump administration has halted all refugee resettlement for Afghan allies. The administration is requiring Camp As Sayliyah residents to choose between moving to an unspecified third country or returning to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

Camp As Sayliyah residents include former members of the Afghan special forces, interpreters, other individuals who worked with the U.S. military, and relatives of U.S. service members and veterans. Residents who return to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan likely face persecution, imprisonment or death.

Residents of the camp live in windowless shipping containers. Camp As Sayliyah residents were offered between $1,000 and $4,500 per person to return to Afghanistan, Mohammad said.

Mohammad, a U.S. Army veteran whose family has lived at Camp As Sayliyah for a year and a half, said his family spent three years in hiding in Afghanistan after U.S.-led forces withdrew in 2021.

"It doesn't matter if it's a million dollars. How am I going to trade my dad's life or my brother's or my sister's life for, I don't know, a billion dollars?" Mohammad said.

A State Department spokesperson said the Trump administration has no plans to send any Camp As Sayliyah residents back to Afghanistan. "Camp As Sayliyah is a legacy of the Biden administration's attempt to move as many Afghans to America as possible — in many cases, without proper vetting," the spokesperson said.

"It is not appropriate or humane to keep this group of individuals on the platform indefinitely," the State Department spokesperson said. "Moving the camp population to a third country represents a positive resolution that provides safety for these remaining people to start a new life outside of Afghanistan."