National

The Taliban on Sunday announced a ban on opium poppy production. 

Why it matters: Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, which has in the past provided a crucial revenue stream for the Taliban, as it gained territory ahead of the complete takeover.

A 2017 Afghanistan Opium Survey from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that poppy cultivation covered 320,000 hectares throughout the country, an area about the size of Rhode Island.

Details: Any farmers caught continuing with a harvest will be jailed and their crops will be burned, according to the Taliban’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who announced the ban during a press conference in Kabul on Sunday.

Mujahid later shared the decree on Twitter. 

Taliban bans opium poppy production

Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium,  which has in the past provided a crucial revenue stream for the Taliban.

A farmer is seen at a poppy field in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on March 17. Photo: Mohammad Noori/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Afghanistan

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

An American citizen and his brother who were detained in Afghanistan since Dec. 18 have been released and are heading home to the United States via Qatar, the State Department confirmed Friday.

The big picture: Safi Rauf, the U.S. citizen, and his brother Anees Khalil, a British citizen with an American green card, were detained by the Taliban while engaged in licensed humanitarian aid work. They have been held in Afghanistan for 105 days as a result of what Rauf called a "misunderstanding."

Background: Rauf, a former Afghan refugee who came to the U.S. and later joined the U.S. Navy Reserves, is a founder of the Human First Coalition.

The organization helped evacuate Afghans after the fall of Kabul and provides humanitarian aid on the ground in Afghanistan.

In October, Human First Coalition helped secure the evacuation of an Afghan interpreter who assisted then-Sen. Joe Biden when his helicopter was forced to land in a snowstorm in Afghanistan in 2008.

What they're saying: In a statement confirming his release, Rauf thanked the U.S., British and Qatari governments as well as his team at Human First Coalition "and countless friends, in country, in the region, and all over the world."

"At this time, we are looking forward to reuniting with our family and loved ones and ultimately, I hope we can continue to advocate for and seek ways to serve the Afghan people in this critical time of need in Afghanistan," Rauf said.

"Unjustly holding Americans captive is always unacceptable, and we will not stop until every American who is being unjustly held against their will is able to hug their families once again," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement confirming Rauf and Khalil's release.

The big picture: The Taliban is still believed to be holding U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, who was detained in January 2020.

On Friday, the New Yorker published a "proof of life" video appearing to show Frerichs asking the Taliban to release him. Frerichs says in the 30-second video that it was filmed on Nov. 28, 2021.

President Biden said on the two-year anniversary of Frerichs' disappearance that the Taliban must release him "before it can expect any consideration of its aspirations for legitimacy."

The Taliban have reportedly offered to free Frerichs in exchange for the release of Afghan drug kingpin Bashir Noorzai, who is serving out a life sentence in the U.S.

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from the State Department and additional details on Mark Frerichs.

Taliban releases American aid worker detained in Afghanistan

Safi Rauf and his brother were held in Afghanistan for 105 days.

Taliban fighter stands guard at ceremony in Kabul on March 31. Photo: Ahmad Sahel Arman/AFP via Getty Images

Taliban suddenly backtrack on pledge to open schools for all girls

Girls' high schools were forced to close just hours after they reopened.

Picture of girls wearing hijabs and backpacks

Girls in Kabul leave their school, which was ordered to close just hours after reopening on March 23. Photo: AHMAD SAHEL ARMAN/AFP via Getty Images

Taliban

As countries quickly mobilize to respond to the deepening crisis in Ukraine, UN leaders are urging them to not forget about the ongoing crises in places like Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar and Yemen.

Driving the news: While the heightened focus on Ukraine is understandable and necessary, advocates say, there's growing concern dire humanitarian crises elsewhere may be neglected. 

"In a word, developing countries are getting pummeled," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said this week. "They face a cascade of crises — beyond the Ukraine war, we cannot forget COVID and the impacts of climate change — in particular, drought."   

On Wednesday, the UN raised less than a third of the $4.27 billion requested for relief efforts in what has been described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis. 

"We hoped for more, and it is a disappointment we didn't get pledges from some we thought we might hear from," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told a pledging event co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland.

Ahead of the event, the World Food Program warned that it had already reduced rations for 8 million people in Yemen due to funding shortfalls. "We have no choice but to take food from the hungry to feed the starving," WFP executive director David Beasley said. 

The war in Yemen, now in its eighth year, has displaced millions. 

Children walk in flood water outside tents damaged by torrential rain, at a camp for internally displaced people in the Khokha district of Yemen's war-ravaged western province of Hodeida

Children walk in flood water outside tents damaged by torrential rain in Yemen on March 16. Khaled Ziad/AFP via Getty Images

UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi traveled to Afghanistan this week to "pass the message that other situations, which also require political attention and resources should not be forgotten or neglected," per Reuters. 

Since the Taliban takeover and U.S. withdrawal from the country last August, the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has deepened, with more than half the population experiencing acute hunger, according to the UN. 

There are about 2.6 million Afghan refugees in the world and 3.4 million people displaced within the country, the UN estimates. 

“As much as the world is rightfully preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, Afghanistan is experiencing a very grave crisis,” Grandi said at the end of a four-day visit.

n Afghan internally-displaced woman cooks in front of her tent at Shaidayee refugee camp in Injil district of Herat province on February 20, 2022. 

An internally displaced Afghan woman cooks in front of her tent in Herat province on Feb. 20. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images

The head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday warned of the increasingly dire and "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia's Tigray region, saying, "There is nowhere on Earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat."

An estimated 6 million people in Tigray have been "sealed off from the outside world" for almost 500 days due to a blockade by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing. 

No food aid has been delivered since mid-December, and while the WHO was able to airlift medicines and other supplies for about 300,000 people to Tigray last month, "much more is needed," he explained.

"Just as we continue to call on Russia to make peace in Ukraine, so we continue to call on Ethiopia and Eritrea to end the blockade — the siege — and allow safe access for humanitarian supplies and workers to save lives."

People protest in Tigray in March 2021. Photo: Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

At least 440,000 people have been displaced in Myanmar since the February 2021 military coup. An estimated 14 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. 

In a report out this week, the UN estimates that at least 1,600 people have been killed by security forces in the last year and thousands more detained. 

The UN found that the "military has engaged in systematic and widespread human rights violations and abuses — some of which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity." 

"Meaningful action by the international community is urgently needed to stop yet more individuals from being stripped of their rights, their lives and their livelihoods," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement. 

Demonstrators make the defiant three-finger salute and hold flares as they march during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar on March 3. 

Demonstrators protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar, on March 3. Photo: Myat Thu Kyaw/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Meanwhile, crises continue to plague the Sahel, other parts of Africa, Venezuela, Central America and Haiti.

Global aid groups told Axios' Stef Kight they're struggling to keep up with the world's cascading humanitarian needs. 

In Ukraine, Russia's unprovoked invasion has not only forced more than 3 million people to flee to neighboring countries and displaced millions of others, the war is causing prices of food, fuel and fertilizer to spike.

Russia and Ukraine provide about half of the world's sunflower oil and 30% of the globe's wheat, according to the UN. Ukraine alone provides more than half of the WFP's wheat supply.

The bottom line: "This war goes far beyond Ukraine," Guterres said. 

"It is also an assault on the world’s most vulnerable people and countries," he added. "All of this is hitting the poorest the hardest and planting the seeds for political instability and unrest around the globe." 

UN leaders urge the world to not forget about other global crises

While the heightened focus on Ukraine is necessary, there's growing concern dire humanitarian crises elsewhere may be neglected.

A displaced Afghan woman sits in a camp in Herat province on Jan. 16. Photo: Bilal Guler/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Humanitarianism

Russia

President Biden signed an executive order on Friday to help enable $7 billion in frozen Afghan assets to be divided between humanitarian relief for the people of Afghanistan and the families of 9/11 victims.

Why it matters: Biden has come under significant pressure to release the U.S.-held assets, which belong to Afghanistan's central bank and were frozen after the Taliban's takeover in August. Afghanistan is facing an extreme humanitarian crisis, with more than 23 million people suffering from acute hunger.

The crisis has been fueled by mass unemployment and the cessation of international financial aid, which had been the source of over 40% of Afghanistan's GDP under the previous government.

Up to a million Afghan children under the age of five could die by the end of the year due to malnutrition and lack of basic services, according to UNICEF.

Details: The executive order will require U.S. financial institutions to transfer the $7 billion in frozen Afghan assets to a consolidated account held at the New York Fed.

The families of 9/11 victims have sued the Taliban and are seeking access to the funds in federal court, meaning that any future transfer to Afghanistan for humanitarian purposes will depend on the court's decision.

Even if the court allows half of the assets to be transferred for the benefit of the Afghan people, more than $3.5 billion would remain in the U.S. and be subject to ongoing litigation from 9/11 victims' families.

What they're saying: Pressed on whether the administration felt it was acting "responsibly" in light of the catastrophic humanitarian crisis, a senior U.S. official stressed that this is an "unprecedented" situation — and that the idea the government could ignore a federal court decision is "flatly wrong."

"We have $7 billion of assets in the United States that are owned by a country where there's no government," the official said.

"I think we are acting responsibly to ensure that a portion of that money can be used to benefit the people of the country where this money was given."

"We have an independent judiciary and legal system here. We're acting responsibly to U.S. claimants who have claims that they have brought into court."

Between the lines: U.S. officials stressed that this is only the beginning of a multi-step, months-long process, which will require actions from the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and financial institutions that would ultimately administer the funds.

The big picture: The U.S. has provided $516 million in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan since August and loosened some restrictions in December to make it easier for humanitarian groups to provide aid without running afoul of sanctions on the Taliban.

Biden to split frozen Afghan assets between possible aid and 9/11 families

Afghanistan is facing an extreme humanitarian crisis.

A child sits outside in the cold in Kabul on Dec. 27. Photo: Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images

Nbc Nightly News With Lester Holt-7 06 10 Pm - 7 07 33 Pm-2022-02-10

President Biden said Thursday in an interview with NBC News that he rejects the results of an Army investigation that reportedly outlines his administration's failure to adequately prepare for and respond to the Taliban's takeover in Afghanistan.

Why it matters: The investigation, which was first reported by the Washington Post and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, found that U.S. military leaders' attempts to plan evacuations of embassy personnel and Afghan allies were met with resistance in the White House and State Department.

What he's saying: In a clip of his exclusive sitdown interview with Lester Holt, Biden replied in the negative when asked if his administration was in denial about the situation leading up to the fall of Afghanistan.

Pressed on the military officials' accounts in the Army report, Biden said, "I'm rejecting them."

"Look, there is no good time to get out, but if we had not gotten out, they acknowledged we would have had to put a hell of a lot more troops back in," Biden added. 

"We would have to significantly increase the number of troops and we're back in this war of attrition," he said. "And so this is a much wiser thing to do."

The full interview is set to air on Sunday.

Worth noting: Senior Biden administration officials were still discussing and assigning basic actions involved in civilian evacuation the day before Kabul fell, according to leaked notes from a White House Situation Room meeting.

The notes show just how unprepared the Biden administration was hours before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan's capital.

Biden rejects Army report on failure to prepare for Afghanistan's fall

The report found that U.S. military leaders' attempts to plan evacuations were met with resistance in the Biden administration.

Joe Biden

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

Qatar has reached a deal with the Taliban to resume chartered evacuations out of Kabul's airport, ending a dispute with the Afghan government that's caused a months-long pause in flights, the Gulf nation's foreign minister told Axios.

Why it matters: The agreement for two flights per week, chartered by Qatar Airways, will allow the U.S. and other countries to evacuate thousands more of their own citizens and at-risk Afghans who face dual threats of Taliban retaliation and a humanitarian crisis.

Driving the news: Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar's deputy prime minister, spoke to Axios on Monday in a wide-ranging interview at the Qatari embassy in Washington following meetings with President Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other U.S. officials.

Talks are also under way to allow one flight per week operated by Ariana Afghan Airlines once the Taliban agrees to certain security requirements, but the deal hasn't been finalized, Al Thani said.

The news comes days after Qatar, Turkey and the Taliban announced they had agreed on "several key issues" regarding the management and operation of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The big picture: Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Monday became the first Gulf leader to visit Biden at the White House, where the president announced he is designating Qatar as one of 17 major non-NATO allies.

Qatar Airways announced during the visit that it would purchase up to 100 Boeing freighter and passenger planes in a deal valued as high as $34 billion, delivering a huge boost to Biden's efforts to revitalize U.S. manufacturing.

Qatar agreed in November to represent U.S. interests in Taliban-led Afghanistan and has enjoyed increasingly close relations with the U.S. after four years in which former President Trump favored its Saudi and Emirati rivals.

What we're watching: The United Nations said Monday it had received "credible reports" that more than 100 Afghans connected to the former U.S.-backed government had been killed since the Taliban took over in August.

The UN also warned that 23 million Afghans are at risk of starvation, with the economy collapsing under the weight of international sanctions and a crippled government bureaucracy.

The first Qatar Airways chartered flight since November took off from Kabul's airport last week carrying more than 30 Americans, according to NBC News.

What they're saying: The foreign minister declined in his interview with Axios to say whether the U.S. government's freezing of $9 billion in Afghan assets was directly causing the humanitarian crisis, but spoke urgently about the need to offer the Taliban a "blueprint" of steps that could eventually lead to an easing of sanctions.

"We believe that we need to have a collective effort among the members of the international community and concerned parties in order to put in place a blueprint for the way forward in Afghanistan," Al Thani said.

"Because it cannot remain like this forever. Otherwise the humanitarian situation over there will be much worse and the only people who will suffer are the normal Afghan people."

Exclusive: Qatar reaches deal with Taliban to resume evacuation flights

A dispute with the Taliban caused a months-long pause in recurring flights.

Taliban fighter standing next to Qatar Airways flight

Qatari security personnel (L) and Taliban fighters stand guard as passengers board a Qatar Airways plane on Sept. 9, 2021. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images

LGBTQ+ Afghans have been threatened, attacked and "faced an increasingly desperate situation and grave threats to their safety" since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last August, per a report published Wednesday.

Details: "We spoke with LGBT Afghans who have survived gang rape, mob attacks, or have been hunted by their own family members who joined the Taliban, and they have no hope that state institutions will protect them," per a statement from study co-author J. Lester Feder.

"For those LGBT people who want to flee the country, there are few good options; most of Afghanistan's neighbors also criminalize same-sex relations. It is difficult to overstate how devastating — and terrifying — the return of Taliban rule has been for LGBT Afghans," added Feder, from advocacy group OutRight Action International, which compiled the report with Human Rights Watch.

State of play: "Despite making repeated pledges to respect human rights, the Taliban have engaged in widespread rights abuses since retaking control of the country, including revenge killings, systematic discrimination against women and girls, severe restrictions on freedom of expression and the media, and land grabbing," the report notes.

"The danger now facing LGBT people in Afghanistan — in an environment devoid of legal protections, under authorities that have explicitly pledged not to tolerate LGBT people — is grave."

The lives of LGBTQ+ Afghans have "dramatically worsened" since the Taliban regained control of the country.

Most of the 60 LGBTQ+ Afghans interviewed for the report believe their only path to safety is to move to a country with greater protections for the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

Yes, but: So far, very few of the hundreds of LGBTQ+ Afghans seeking resettlement are known to have escaped to a safe country, according to the report.

Only the United Kingdom has so far publicly announced that it has resettled a small number of LGBTQ+ Afghans (29, according to the BBC).

The big picture:  UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned in September that the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan had entered a "new and perilous phase," with the group breaking public promises on human rights.

Meanwhile, the country has plunged into a humanitarian crisis, with millions of Afghans facing dwindling food and fuel reserves.

The Biden administration announced earlier this month more than $308 million in humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan, bringing the total U.S. aid for the country and Afghan refugees to nearly $782 million since October.

What they're saying: A State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement the U.S. had for years advocated for Afghans, including the LGBTQ+ community, and would continue to do so and support the protection of their rights "through diplomacy, international influence, and humanitarian aid." 

The department would "continue to receive and process submissions for Afghans who may be eligible for referral to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program," identify ways to support Afghans at risk, including members of the LGBTQ+ community, facilitating safe travel from the country.

"There are sensitivities that make the effort to even identify LGBTQI+ individuals extremely difficult and potentially dangerous for the individuals in question," the spokesperson noted.

"The best we can say is that we know by numbers that we will help some, but we are unlikely ever to be sure how many since many people cannot disclose their sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics due to shame, stigma and fear of backlash."

Read the report in full, via DocumentCloud:

afghanistan_lgbt0122_web

Go deeper: Over 100 former Afghan security members dead or missing under Taliban rule

Editor's note: This story has been updated wit ha statement from the State Department. 

Report: LGBTQ+ Afghans' lives "dramatically worsened" under Taliban rule

Researchers interviewed survivors of "gang rape, mob attacks" and people "hunted" by  family members who joined the Taliban.

 Taliban fighters riding horses during a snowfall at the Qargha lake in Kabul on January 3.

Taliban fighters in Kabul, Afghanistan, earlier this month. Photo: Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images

An earthquake struck western Afghanistan on Monday — killing at least 26 people, officials said, per AFP.

Details: The 5.3 magnitude quake caused fatalities in the Qadis district in the western province of Badghis after roofs collapsed, province spokesperson Baz Mohammad Sarwary told the news agency.

The big picture: The quake comes as Afghanistan faces a humanitarian crisis, with rapidly dwindling food and fuel reserves.

The Taliban, which reclaimed the country last August after the U.S. ended its military presence there, lacks resources to respond.

The Biden administration announced last week it would send a further $308 million-plus in humanitarian assistance for Afghanistan — bringing the total U.S. aid for the country and Afghan refugees to nearly $782 million since October.

Earthquake kills at least 26 in western Afghanistan

The 5.3 magnitude quake caused roofs to collapse in Badghis province, officials said.

Earthquakes

A US Geological survey map of the Afghanistan earthquake.

A look at the scientific breakthroughs changing the world, explorations in space and in worlds beyond our own and the threats posed to us by our own planet, both out of our control and of our own making.

Science

Afghanistan faces a "tsunami of hunger," Mary-Ellen McGroarty, a senior official at the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), warned Thursday in an interview with AP.

Driving the news: More than 22 million people in Afghanistan face food shortages and more than 8 million people in Afghanistan are close to starvation, per AP. 

The big picture: The Taliban-led government has struggled to get the aid needed to keep the country afloat, as much of the international community froze their aid after last summer's takeover.

The lack of aid, along with COVID-19 and a drought, has led to massive inflation and food shortages.

Of note: The U.S. announced on Tuesday it would send an additional $308 million in humanitarian aid to the country, bringing the total sent to the country and Afghan refugees to nearly $782 million since October.

Details: McGroarty explained that Afghanistan needs $4.4 billion and the WFP needs around $2.6 billion to do "the minimum we need to be doing in 2022."

This is the first time Afghan farmers have had to wait for humanitarian support, according to McGroarty.

What she's saying: “Can you imagine not being able to feed your young children? And you can also imagine not being able to keep those young children also warm?” McGroarty said. "It’s unimaginable suffering, and the support is required today to avert some of that unimaginable suffering."

UN agency official warns Afghanistan is facing "tsunami of hunger"

More than 22 million people in Afghanistan face food shortages and more than 8 million people in Afghanistan are close to starvation.

People at a vegetable market in Kabul, Afghanistan, in January. Photo: Mohd Rasfan/AFP via Getty Images

Axios Sneak Peek

Shortly before 8 a.m. last Friday, an official at U.S. Central Command sent a searing wake-up call to colleagues: The sweltering Qatar air base where the Biden administration is housing thousands of Afghan evacuees was awash with loose feces and urine and a rat infestation, according to internal emails shared with Axios.

Why it matters: The email highlights the despair inside the federal government and some elements of the administration at the handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

President Biden faces intense criticism for failing to secure safe passage to the airport in Kabul or guarantee flights out for thousands of Afghans targeted by the Taliban. 

But the account of conditions at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha shows how the U.S. was unprepared to receive thousands of desperate Afghans in a safe and sanitary environment.

"We recognize this is a challenging and difficult situation for these vulnerable individuals and families, and we remain committed to providing a secure, safe and sanitary environment," said Navy Capt. William Urban, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command.

"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," Urban told Axios.

Driving the news: The email by supervisory special agent Colin Sullivan — with subject line "Dire conditions at Doha" — went to officials at the State Department and the Pentagon. It described "a life-threatening humanitarian disaster … that I want to make sure all of you are fully tracking."

"While not in any way downplaying the conditions in Kabul nor the conditions the Afghanis [sic] are escaping from, the current conditions in Doha are of our own doing."

Sullivan is a veteran member of the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service now serving as a liaison to U.S. Central Command. It oversees U.S. military forces and actions in the Middle East.

Contacted by Axios, Sullivan referred questions about his email to a Defense Department spokesperson.

The Pentagon told Axios it has taken concrete steps to improve conditions on the ground, including installing more than 100 toilets and offering 7,000 traditional Afghan meals, three times a day.

And a State Department spokesperson said: “We are working quickly to alleviate bottlenecks and are surging consular personnel in Qatar, in addition to expediting manifesting, to alleviate current conditions."

On Monday "more than 3,700 individuals were transported to follow-on destinations in the United States, Germany and Italy," said the spokesperson. "Our goal is to process them for onward destinations within a few days of arrival."

Between the lines: The State Department had done little to advise the Defense Department about how to build appropriate facilities to house thousands of Afghan refugees, according to the U.S. government official who read out the emails to Axios.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive internal discussions. The official said U.S. Central Command was doing the best it could under appalling conditions and inadequate forethought and contingency planning from the State Department and White House.

Behind the scenes: In his email, Sullivan also shared what he said were "excerpts from Doha Embassy staff communications" about the conditions at the Al Udeid base.

"A humid day today. Where the Afghans are housed is a living hell. Trash, urine, fecal matter, spilled liquids and vomit cover the floors."

"I spent an hour in there picking up trash ... almost suffocated."

"Another flight arrived and there's no resources to solve the sanitation problem."

"These human beings are in a living nightmare."

"We're in the middle of humanitarian crises [sic] that compounds itself with every flight that lands in Doha."

"Hangar update. They now have a rat problem."

"A living hell": Leaked email describes Afghan refugee conditions

The sweltering U.S. air base in Qatar was awash with loose feces and urine and a rat infestation.

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