D.he last of the 34,900 refugees who were flown from Afghanistan to the US base in Ramstein in Rhineland-Palatinate in August left Germany again. The US base announced on Saturday that the last flights had brought people to Philadelphia in the US state of Pennsylvania. From there they were taken to other locations in the United States. Ramstein’s role in the largest humanitarian airlift in history is over.
After the surprisingly quick capture of the Afghan capital Kabul by the radical Islamic Taliban in mid-August, the USA, Germany and other countries flown out tens of thousands of Afghans within just under two weeks, sometimes under extremely difficult conditions. Most of them were local staff, i.e. people who had worked in some form for the western countries. After the fall of the government, they feared for their lives and that of their loved ones because the Taliban could view them as traitors. However, numerous local staff were unable to reach any of the evacuation flights. The USA had announced that it would first bring its local staff to Ramstein and then to the USA.
The US base announced that the mission was about humanity, saving lives and hoping for a better future. In addition to governmental and non-governmental organizations and cross-agency partners, thousands of US soldiers and NATO allies had helped. Around 2500 volunteers from the region were also on duty, with food, English courses, pastoral care, donations and other support. “We would not have made it without our German partners,” said the Chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in Berlin, Clark Price.
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