US to evacuate 2,500 Afghans to US military base in Virginia

First group of Afghan evacuees to be housed at Fort Lee while other groups may go to foreign bases and other countries.

The United States will begin evacuating Afghans who assisted US forces in Afghanistan to a military base in Virginia as they wait for a special visa process to be completed, the US State Department announced on Monday. About 2,500 Afghans who have already applied to emigrate to the US will take relocation flights out of Afghanistan to Fort Lee, a US Army base in the state of Virginia, State Department spokesman Ned Price said. “These are brave Afghans and their families … whose service to the United States has been certified by the embassy in Kabul and who have completed a thorough security vetting process,” Price told a State Department media briefing.