The Biden administration offered the primary public look on Friday inside a US navy base the place Afghans airlifted from Afghanistan are being examined, amid questions on how the federal government is caring for and investigating refugees.
Liz Greykon, a senior State Department official, informed reporters: “Every Afghan who is here with us has faced a harrowing journey and now they face real challenges of adjusting to life in the United States. “
The three-hour tour at Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas, was the primary time the media got large entry to considered one of eight US navy installations in Afghanistan.
But even then, journalists, together with Associated Press reporters, weren’t allowed to talk with any evacuees or spend various minutes in areas the place navy officers cited “privacy concerns.”
Tents are arrange within the village of Fort Bliss Doana, New Mexico, the place Afghan refugees are being held, Friday, September 10, 2021. (AP)
About 10,000 Afghan refugees reside on the base whereas present process medical and safety checks earlier than resettling within the United States. The operation was described by Department of Homeland Security and State Department officers as a “historic” and “unprecedented” effort to facilitate the resettlement of huge numbers of refugees in lower than a month.
On Fridays, Afghan youngsters performed exterior giant white tents with soccer balls and basketballs. The households descended a dust path, with piles of plastic meals containers below their chins and cans of Coca-Cola below their arms. A younger lady, nonetheless carrying soiled garments, cried in the course of the highway when her meals was scattered and troopers tried to assist her. Inside the containers, which refugees spent about quarter-hour in line within the scorching solar, have been conventional Afghan meals of basmati rice and hearty stew.
The US authorities spent two weeks constructing a village to deal with Afghans. It is an unlimited space with a number of air-conditioned tents which can be used as dormitories and eating halls in clear messy areas, a panorama that in some methods resembles elements of the homeland.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
