Afghan Evacuees Stranded on U.S. Military Bases

FORT MCCOY, Wis. — In precocious August, evacuees from Afghanistan began arriving by the busload to the Fort McCoy Army basal successful the Midwest, carrying small much than cellphones and harrowing tales of their constrictive escapes from a state they whitethorn ne'er spot again. They were greeted by soldiers, assigned rooms successful achromatic barracks and advised not to stray into the surrounding forest, lest they get lost.

More than a period later, the distant basal immoderate 170 miles from Milwaukee is location to 12,600 Afghan evacuees, astir fractional of them children, present bigger than immoderate metropolis successful occidental Wisconsin’s Monroe County.

The communicative is overmuch the aforesaid connected 7 different subject installations from Texas to New Jersey. Overall, astir 53,000 Afghans person been surviving astatine these bases since the chaotic evacuation from Kabul this summertime that marked the extremity of 20 years of war. While galore Americans person turned their attraction distant from the largest evacuation of warfare refugees since Vietnam, the cognition is precise overmuch a enactment successful advancement here, overseen by a big of national agencies and thousands of U.S. troops.

While an archetypal radical of astir 2,600 radical — mostly erstwhile subject translators and others who helped allied forces during the warfare — moved rapidly into American communities, a immense bulk stay stranded connected these sprawling subject mode stations, uncertain of erstwhile they volition beryllium capable to commencement the caller American lives they were expecting. An further 14,000 radical are inactive connected bases abroad, waiting for transportation to the United States.

“We built a metropolis to location astir 13,000 guests,” said Col. Jen McDonough, lawman commandant for sustainment astatine Fort McCoy, wherever astir 1,600 work members are tasked with ensuring the monolithic cognition runs smoothly.

On a caller lukewarm autumn time here, refugees played a pickup crippled of shot with soldiers, young children made arts and crafts with volunteers portion their mothers studied English successful an adjacent classroom, and families astatine a warehouse rummaged done boxes of donated underwear, shirts and jackets.

Afghan evacuees said they were grateful for the lukewarm reception they person received astatine the fort, but for many, the agelong hold has been grueling. None person near the basal since arriving, unless they were greenish paper holders oregon U.S. citizens.

“I person asked galore times astir the day of departure,’’ said Farwardin Khorasani, 36, who was an interpreter astatine the U.S. embassy successful Kabul. He fled Afghanistan with his woman and 2 young daughters and hopes to relocate to Sacramento. “We are jobless present and person thing to do.”

A shortage of lodging besides is creating delays. Many families privation to settee wherever they already person friends oregon relatives, successful places with existing Afghan communities specified arsenic California and the Washington, D.C., area. But officials person said that a dearth of affordable apartments could postpone their resettlement. On Thursday, Congress passed a short-term spending measure that included $6.3 cardinal to relocate and settee Afghan refugees.

Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, commandant of the United States Northern Command, which oversees the cognition astatine Fort McCoy, said the subject was prepared to accommodate arrivals connected bases done the spring, giving the authorities clip to enactment done the lodging shortage.

“We’ve built lodging capableness and we are providing our Afghan guests the situation they need,” helium said.

One of the archetypal priorities has been to inoculate evacuees against a assortment of diseases.

There person been 24 cases of measles, prompting a vaccination run against that illness, on with mumps, rubella and polio, an effort that is conscionable winding down. People indispensable hold astatine slightest 21 days aft those vaccinations earlier receiving aesculapian clearance to permission the bases.

Almost 85 percent of each evacuees connected bases person received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine against the coronavirus, and the complaint of corruption among the colonisation is little than 1 percent, General VanHerck said.

The bases besides person seen crime, not dissimilar densely packed cities.

Two Afghan evacuees are successful national custody; 1 has been charged with engaging successful a intersexual enactment with a insignificant and different charged with assaulting his spouse, some astatine Fort McCoy.

The F.B.I. is investigating an battle connected a pistillate work subordinate by Afghan men astatine Fort Bliss successful El Paso. And successful Quantico, Va., a subject constabulary serviceman connected defender work reported that helium had observed a 24-year-old Afghan sexually assaulting a 3-year-old Afghan girl, according to a transgression complaint.

General VanHerck said the subject would “continue taking each indispensable measures to guarantee the safety” of some those moving connected the basal and the Afghan evacuees. He said galore reports to instrumentality enforcement were made by Afghans.

The residents seen connected a tightly controlled media circuit of the basal represented a cross-section of Afghan society.

Among them was a radical of 148 young women who hoped to decorativeness their assemblage acquisition successful the United States, and the main of an planetary school. There was an Afghan Air Force aviator who had learned to alert UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters successful Alabama and Texas.

There were men and women from distant provinces, including a navigator who had prepared nutrient for soldiers successful a far-flung outpost. Some radical wore accepted Afghan attire. Others donned jeans and T-shirts. About fractional knew immoderate English, but others would request to statesman learning to work and constitute erstwhile they resettled successful the United States, officials said.

Farzana Mohammadi, a subordinate of the Afghan women’s Paralympic hoops squad who has been incapable to locomotion since she had polio arsenic a child, said she hoped to support playing sports and to survey science successful Seattle.

About 50 to 60 radical unrecorded successful each two-story barracks, wherever azygous beds beryllium side-by-side. For privacy, families person improvised partitions utilizing sheets.

Understand the Taliban Takeover successful Afghanistan

There are robust information details extracurricular the surviving quarters, which are clustered into “communities,” each with a halfway wherever evacuees tin get idiosyncratic hygiene items oregon larn astir activities, specified arsenic municipality halls with subject leadership.

“Grab and go” cafes offering tea, java and airy snacks are bustling. But the 8 self-service laundromats person been underutilized: Most Afghans person preferred to lavation their covering by manus and bent it retired to adust connected lines, which the subject rapidly erected.

An imam certifies that meals served astatine 4 cafeterias are halal, but the lines to bargain pizza astatine the basal speech often agelong outside.

After weeks of being bottled up unneurotic with nary timeline for leaving, determination person been tensions among the residents. Fights often interruption retired successful the enactment to participate the cafeteria, and determination are occasional arguments betwixt radical from antithetic tribes.

Several young azygous women said they were verbally harassed by Afghan men due to the fact that they were connected the basal alone.

“We were told, ‘How are you present without your antheral household member? We won’t tolerate this,’” recalled Nilab Ibrahimy, 23, who made it to the Kabul airdrome successful a convoy of 7 buses carrying the 148 students from the Asian University for Women, based successful Bangladesh, wherever they had each been studying earlier the coronavirus outbreak stranded them successful Kabul.

Ms. Ibrahimy took the contented to the U.S. subject leadership, and the full radical of students was moved to different barracks lodging chiefly azygous women. There person been nary problems since, she and others said.

Passing the clip has been different challenge. “When we arrived here, we were sitting successful our rooms doing nothing,” said Sepehra Azami, 25, who was studying economics earlier she fled.

Ms. Azami, Ms. Ibrahimy and different friend, Batool Bahnam, asked immoderate mothers whether they were funny successful having their children larn basal conversational English: What is your name? How are you? Thank you.

They were. Soon, adults began approaching the young women astir lessons, too, and classes were added for women and men. “The request is truly high,” Ms. Azami said. “Families are struggling with connection barriers.”

Mounds of covering person been donated to the refugees, but it took until past week for each evacuee to person items.

On Thursday, it was yet the crook of a 12-year-old lad named Nayatola. Dressed successful a brownish kurta pajama, helium searched for apparel successful his size. He ended up with an oversize achromatic pullover. On his feet were the adult-size integrative slippers his begetter had brought from Afghanistan — Nayatola had nary different shoes.

As the time wore on, children could beryllium seen extracurricular doodling with chalk. When the visitors passed by, they called out. “Hello, however are you?” a fewer of them shouted, trying retired their caller English phrases.

Abdulhadi Pageman, the erstwhile Afghan Air Force pilot, looked toward the warehouse wherever families were getting clothes. “These children are the aboriginal of the United States,” helium said, talking astir the children connected the base. “They volition beryllium scientists, engineers. You conscionable person to beryllium patient.”

Seamus Hughes contributed reporting from Alexandria, Va.