Foreign Policy
More than 29,000 Afghans remain on U.S. military bases thanks, in part, to a shortage of affordable housing and the pandemic.
Afghan refugees women and a service member walk inside Liberty Village on Joint Base McGuire-Dix- Lakehurst in Trenton, N.J. | Barbara Davidson/AP Photo
By NAHAL TOOSI
12/20/2021 09:50 AM EST
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For nearly four months, Siddiq, his wife and baby boy have been living on a military base in the United States, like tens of thousands of other people evacuated from Afghanistan last summer.
To get to this point, they waited years for a Special Immigrant Visa that never came through, negotiated their way through Taliban checkpoints as the militants took over Afghanistan in August, and still had to leave family behind. They are relieved to have made it this far and eager to start their new lives, but they’re also frustrated about how long it’s taking for American officials to help them resettle in a U.S. community.
It doesn’t help that they’re at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, where the weather is less than ideal this time of year.