Inside the US base housing 10,000 Afghanistan refugees
- Fort Bliss, Texas, is one of eight such military facilities where Afghans airlifted out of their country are being screened and vetted
- The evacuees are staying at the base while they undergo medical and security checks before being resettled in the US
“Every Afghan who is here with us has endured a harrowing journey and they are now faced with the very real challenges of acclimating with life in the United States,” Liz Gracon, a senior State Department official, told reporters.
The three-hour tour at Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, was the first time the media has been granted broad access to one of the eight US military installations housing Afghans.
But even so, reporter were not allowed to talk with any evacuees or spend more than a few minutes in areas where they were gathered, with military officials citing “privacy concerns”.
Nearly 10,000 Afghan evacuees are staying at the base while they undergo medical and security checks before being resettled in the United States. The operation was described by officials at the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State as a “historic” and “unprecedented” effort to facilitate the relocation of a huge number of refugees in less than a month’s time.
