U.S. remnants plan to use bases in South Korea, Japan, for Afghan refugees

SEOUL, Aug 24 (Reuters) – The United States has decided against the idea of ​​using its largest overseas military bases in South Korea and Japan to temporarily house Afghan refugees, two sources told Reuters. a deep knowledge of the matter.

U.S. officials “seemed to have discovered better places and decided to remove the two countries from the list because of logistics and geography, among other reasons,” said one of the sources on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the problem.

The source added that the South Korean government had responded positively when the United States first raised the idea. Read more

The U.S. State Department did not respond to any requests for comment.

South Korea was also working with the United States to evacuate some 400 Afghans who had worked with South Korean troops and relief workers and had taken them to Seoul, sources said.

Three military planes were sent to Afghanistan and neighboring countries to carry out an airlifting mission of Afghan workers, the Foreign Ministry told Reuters.

Most Afghans are medical personnel, engineers, translators and others who had helped South Korean troops housed there between 2001 and 2014 or who participated in a 2010-14 reconstruction mission involving medical and professional training.

“Despite some domestic resistance to the reception of refugees, these people helped us and must be done taking into account humanitarian concerns and the confidence of the international community,” one source said.

Plans to take them to Seoul were fraught with uncertainty over the volatile situation in Kabul, where thousands of people are sinking at the airport, desperate to flee after the Taliban captured the Afghan capital on 15 ‘August.

The United States and its allies are competing to complete the evacuation of all vulnerable foreigners and Afghans before the August 31 deadline agreed with the Taliban expires. Read more

Report by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Nick Macfie

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