Afghan Evacuees Stuck in Balkan Camp
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – For some Afghans who were evacuated as their country fell to the Taliban last summer, the journey to the United States has stalled, and perhaps ended, at a sun-baked cluster of tents and temporary housing on an American base in the Balkans.
While more than 78,000 Afghans have arrived in the US for resettlement since August, the future for those who have been flagged for additional security vetting and diverted to Camp Bondsteel, in the small nation of Kosovo, remains up in the air. The US won’t force the dozens there to return to Afghanistan, where they could face reprisals.
Their frustration is growing. Some Afghans at the base, which has been shrouded in secrecy, took the unusual step this week of staging a protest, holding up signs with messages such as “we want justice,” according to photos sent to The Associated Press.
“They just keep repeating the same things, that it takes time and we must be patient,” one of the Afghans, Muhammad Arif Sarwari, said in a text message from the base.
Their complaints open a window into an aspect of the evacuation and resettlement of Afghans that has gotten little attention because US authorities, and the government of Kosovo, have been reluctant to say much about the people sent to Bondsteel.
The Biden administration won’t provide details, but acknowledges that some of the evacuees did not make it through what it calls a “a multi-layered, rigorous screening and vetting process” and won’t be permitted to enter the US.
In all, about 600 Afghans have passed through Bondsteel, according to the government of Kosovo, which initially authorized use of the base for evacuees for a year but recently agreed to extend that until August 2023.
Kosovo, which gained independence from Serbia in 2008 with US support, has also provided little information about the Afghans at Bondsteel, citing the privacy of the refugees. Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in a statement that the government is proud of its role providing temporary shelter to them.
The people sent to Bondsteel were stopped and diverted for a host of reasons, including missing or flawed documents or security concerns that emerged during overseas vetting by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, officials have said.
