Afghan migrants 'like prisoners' at US camp in Kosovo

A former Afghan intelligence officer, who worked closely with the US government before the Taliban takeover of the country, said he and over 40 other Afghan migrants are stuck at a US military base in Kosovo "like prisoners" nearly a year after being evacuated from Afghanistan.

Muhammad Arif Sarwari told CBS News in a text message that he worked with the Central Intelligence Agency during the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the US. He then went on to be a top intelligence official and a politician before evacuating with US citizens last August when the US withdrew from the country.

Sarwari said among those stuck at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo are people who were in the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan, police officers and regular people who worked with the CIA and the US embassy in Kabul.

"We have absolutely no freedom to leave the area. We only have access to one field, the bathrooms, the dining hall and our tent. Not only are we unable to leave the camp, but we can't speak to most of the visitors," Sarwari told CBS.

When Sarwari and some of the other refugees evacuated on a military plane from Kabul during the chaotic US withdrawal last August, he was initially taken to Kuwait and Qatar, and then ended up at Camp Bondsteel.

He was told that if they had to stay there longer than a few weeks, better housing would be provided.

Nine months later, their living situation has not changed, their request to enter the US has not been granted and they have no information on the status of their application.

Sarwari said he was desperate to leave Camp Bondsteel so he could start earning money to support his family back in Afghanistan, and was considering just trying to walk out of the camp.

The US State Department told CBS News that it could not comment on individual cases, but that Sarwari's account did not give a full picture of life at the camp.

Lack of information

The prolonged wait and lack of information prompted the refugees to stage a protest in June, Sarwari said. The refugees, including some children, held signs that read: "Human rights violation", "How long should we suffer", "We want justice" and "We want freedom".

Sarwari shared photos of the children with CBS News.

Sarwari said he is staying at the camp with his wife and two daughters. The children were given a few classes and some games after more than three months there, but there are no proper schools.

Another refugee at the camp, who also worked with the US in Afghanistan during the war and asked to remain anonymous to protect his family in Afghanistan, said he was denied entry to the US, asked to go to another country and was denied again after another two months of waiting. "We are living in the camps since day one as inmates and even lower than inmates. Inmates have the right to work and the right to find some means of sustaining their families but, why don't we have that right too?" he said in a letter to the US State Department dated June 25.

"Why are we deprived of all the freedoms? We are not allowed to go outside the camps. Why don't we have access to legitimate legal entities and services? Media is not allowed to come inside the campus, and we are not allowed to individually seek solutions for ourselves."