The Americans and thousands of Afghans who have managed to escape Kabul on US military flights amid the botched withdrawal are being held in an overcrowded airbase hanger in Qatar as US Border agents work frantically to process the growing number of evacuees.
When US military planes have taken off from Kabul’s Hamid Karzai airport this week, they’ve headed straight to the al-Udeid Air Base in Doha where they are processed by US Customs and Border Protection staff.
Evacuation flights out of Kabul were forced to stop for several hours on Friday morning because the airbase in Doha had reached capacity.
Footage has emerged in recent days of thousands of Afghan refugees crowding into the Doha hanger after fleeing the Taliban.
US officials say more than 9,000 people have left Kabul on US flights in the last three days.
The evacuation flights were able to resume Friday afternoon after US officials managed to reach a deal with the Bahrain government to let them drop evacuees at the US Isa Air Base, a source told CBS News.
As many as three flights out of Kabul – carrying an estimated 1,500 evacuees – were expected to arrive in Bahrain by Friday night.
The Bahrain-based has the capacity to hold 1,000 people and the government has given the US clearance to keep evacuees there for 14 days in order to process them.
US officials at the two bases are working around the clock to check the documentation of US citizens and screening Afghans before clearing them to fly into the United States.
Once cleared by customs agents, the Afghan evacuees are then flown to military bases in the US.
The first stop for many is Virginia’s Fort Lee military base, which has already been receiving Afghans who are eligible for Special Immigrant Visas since late July.
The Department of Defense revealed earlier this week that Wisconsin’s Fort McCoy and Fort Bliss in Texas will also be used as the evacuations ramp up.
Once at the bases, the refugees have to undergo medical screening and other administrative obligations.
The House passed legislation back in June to speed up the evacuations that allowed Afghans fleeing to the US on Special Immigrant Visas could undergo medical screenings within 30 days of arriving.
Previously, those eligible for the visa had to be screened prior to leaving Afghanistan.
The State Department was this week forced to scrap a widely excoriated plan to bill US citizens $2,000 or more for their evacuation flights from Kabul.
The hefty price tag drew social media outrage Thursday after it gained public notice.
“In these unique circumstances, we have no intention of seeking any reimbursement from those fleeing Afghanistan,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement provided to The Post.
Amid the chaos and confusion at Kabul airport this week, the State Department said Thursday that evacuees are no longer required to get a negative COVID-19 test in order to travel.
“A blanket humanitarian waiver has been implemented for COVID testing for all persons the U.S. government is relocating from Afghanistan,” the department said.
It is not yet clear how COVID testing will be handled once the evacuees arrive in the US.
A number of states have already vowed to accept Afghan refugees once they arrive.
Lt. Gov Kathy Hochul, who will soon succeed disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo as New York’s chief executive, said the Empire State is “committed” to helping Afghan refugees.
“When I served in Congress, I met with many Afghans when I traveled to their country,” Hochul tweeted Thursday morning. “They were there for us, now it’s time for us to help them. NY is committed to doing our part to welcome refugees fleeing Afghanistan.”
“The arms of the Statue of Liberty are open wide to you,” she added.
Utah, Maryland, South Carolina, Iowa, Vermont, Georgia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Virginia are among the states that have made similar pledges.
