The Afghans in diplomatic limbo is an exchange from January 2026, prompted by a viewer asking about Afghan evacuees still stranded at a base in Qatar and denied immigration years after the fall of the American-backed government in 2021.[1]
The scale of the problem
Rall’s opening observation was that a great many people are trapped in diplomatic limbo like this all over the world, and he reached for the encampments in Syria still holding people who have been there for years, some of them longer than the Afghans.[2]
Both minds
Kiriakou’s answer was explicitly divided, and he said so: “I’m really of two minds about the Afghans.”[2]
On the one hand: “I think if you’re stupid enough to work for an occupation government and then that government loses that you’re going to probably end up in not in a good place.”[2]
On the other: “I think the United States government should look out for the people who work look who work for them and with them and we owe them, you know, we owe them a debt.” The comparison he chose for the obligation was imperial rather than moral — “It’s like the Roman Empire. We we we we owe them something. We shouldn’t leave them hanging.”[2]
Rall’s answer to the individual
Rall agreed, and then addressed the person rather than the policy, prefacing it with a warning that it would sound callous. If you are a refugee or an intending refugee who has served the American government and believes you were promised resettlement, and you are stuck at Al Udeid air base, “you’re still okay. Don’t worry about it.” You may have to sit there three more years — but do not lose hope.[3][4]
Kiriakou’s response was to accept the description without softening it: they are just sort of stuck.[4]
The exchange sits directly alongside his darker account of what became of the Afghans who did reach the United States after working for American intelligence.