U.S. official says 'dire conditions' at Qatar base housing Afghan evacuees 'are of our own doing' in leaked email
A leaked email written by Colin Sullivan, an official at U.S. Central Command, warns that a "humanitarian crisis" is unfolding at the U.S. air base in Qatar, Axios reports. The air base is temporarily housing Afghan evacuees who have left Kabul after the Taliban takeover last week.
The base is crowded and the Qatari summer temperatures are sweltering; Sullivan described the situation as a "living hell." The floors, he wrote in the email, are covered in "trash, urine, fecal matter, spilled liquids, and vomit."
Sullivan argued that the "dire conditions" are of "our own doing," referring to the United States. That suggests the U.S. was unprepared to receive the thousands of evacuees from Kabul in a safe and sanitary environment, Axios writes.
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The Pentagon told Axios it is working to improve the situation by installing more than 100 toilets and offering three meals a day to the evacuees. "It has been challenging to keep up with the flow, but we have made progress in caring for and safeguarding these vulnerable individuals and in getting them moving onward" to a permanent location, said Navy Capt. William Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. Read more at Axios.
