{"id":115609,"date":"2021-08-25T21:33:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T21:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/25\/8-us-bases-in-europe-prepared-to-accept-as-many-as-25000-afghan-refugees\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:06:08","slug":"8-us-bases-in-europe-prepared-to-accept-as-many-as-25000-afghan-refugees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2021\/08\/25\/8-us-bases-in-europe-prepared-to-accept-as-many-as-25000-afghan-refugees\/","title":{"rendered":"8 US bases in Europe prepared to accept as many as 25,000 Afghan refugees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than 7,000 Afghan evacuees<\/a> have been processed through Ramstein Air Base, Germany<\/a>, and Naval Air Station Sigonella, Italy, where they\u2019re expected to spend up to two weeks finalizing their visas before resettling in the U.S., the head of U.S. European Command told reporters on Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other bases are prepared to receive Afghans as the evacuation mission at Kabul\u2019s airport <\/a>over the next week include several in Germany, one in Spain and another in Kosovo, said Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor context, we received our first evacuation flights last Friday, the 20th of August,\u201d Wolters said. \u201cAnd three short days later, this last Monday, we had our first set of flights depart Ramstein for the continental United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, he said, that\u2019s 55 flights to Ramstein and three to Sigonella. There are currently 5,783 and 662 waiting to be processed at either base, respectively, with 1,500 having already headed on to Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the initial bases, Wolters said Rhine Ordnance Barracks, U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria \u2015 including Hohenfels and Grafenwoehr \u2015 and Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, are being made available to take evacuees, as are Naval Station Rota, Spain, and Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, given the flow that we have, approximately 1,500 to 1,700 in per day, and approximately 1,800 to 2,000 who should be going out every day,\u201d Wolters said, expecting between 10 and 14 days to process groups of evacuees.<\/p>\n\n\n\t