Afghan Refugees on U.S. Military Bases Wait to Begin Their New Lives
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany—In between the threat of Taliban violence and the promise of American freedom lies this large military installation, which has become a conduit between two worlds for thousands of Afghans.
Many of the Afghans arriving here say they were both hopeful and shellshocked from split-second decisions to leave home, probably forever, and head to the U.S. They are being met by U.S. military personnel, whose missions were transformed overnight from fighting on the front lines to embracing evacuees fleeing the end of nearly 20 years of war.
Since Kabul fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15, U.S. and allied forces have airlifted more than 124,000 people out of the country. The Biden administration wasn’t prepared for the scale of the evacuation, either at the airport in Kabul or at more than a dozen bases across the U.S. and around the world, which were hurriedly converted into temporary homes.
The strains from the new reality have begun to show. The Afghans at Ramstein get two meals a day, but at times, it was down to one because the military personnel weren’t sure how many more Afghans were coming.
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