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 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.
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
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
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, obtained by Axios, 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.
