US lawmakers demand Trump officials halt plan to send Afghans to DRC

Dozens of US lawmakers urged the Trump administration on Thursday to roll back any plans to ship to unsafe third countries Afghan nationals who worked with US forces during the war in their homeland.

In a letter seen by Reuters, more than 80 House of Representatives members, including at least three Republicans as well as Democrats, appealed to secretary of state, Marco Rubio, to reconsider plans for 1,100 Afghans who have been stranded in Qatar awaiting relocation.

“It’s both a moral and a national security imperative that our country live up to its promise and watch out for those who put themselves in harm’s way to help keep us safe,” Jason Crow, a Democratic congressman of Colorado, a former army ranger who led the letter, said in a statement.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration was in talks to send the Afghans to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as they remained in limbo more than four years after the US withdrawal from Kabul.

The situation for Afghans in particular has been more difficult since late 2025, after an Afghan immigrant was accused of an attack in Washington DC that killed one national guard soldier and wounded another.

After the shooting, Trump’s administration pointed to a lack of vetting of Afghans and other foreign nationals during the term of former US president Joe Biden, although the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was granted asylum under Donald Trump.

Trump signed an executive order preventing Afghan refugees, including those who worked with the military, from entering the US.

Many of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress have stepped back from what was once bipartisan support for efforts like the special immigrant visa program to clear Afghans who had worked with American forces to come to the United States.

Rubio was queried at congressional hearings last week about whether the administration still planned to send the Afghans to DRC, despite an Ebola outbreak there. Rubio responded that the US was talking with “multiple countries” about taking them in.

In the letter, the lawmakers stressed the service the Afghans had provided US forces.

“In our nearly 20-year mission in Afghanistan across four administrations, Afghan allies served in essential roles in support of US operations, fighting alongside our service members as interpreters, contractors and security personnel,” the letter said.

The letter also suggested that some of the Afghans be considered for US entry.