The U.S. military is facing prosecuting approximately 8,000 Afghan citizens at a U.S. air base in Germany. For Afghans, it is the first stop on the road to a new life, away from home.
At Ramstein Air Force Base, members of the U.S. Service are doing their best to feed, care for, and entertain thousands of people. evacuated from Afghanistan.
“All of your life possessions can be inside a plastic shopping bag. It certainly helps to put things in perspective,” said Lt. Col. Simon Ritchie.
“This is just a transit station for Afghan evacuees,” he said. “They will stay here a few days before flying somewhere else (most likely in the United States) to start a new life.”
Rahmat Safari worked as a US special forces interpreter. He said that if I had not left the country, the Taliban would “kill me immediately.”
She said her family owes her life to an old green beret who became friends.
“His name is Greg Adams,” Safari said. “He’s back in the United States. He helped us a lot.”
Major Greg Adams is now a civilian. From his home in Seattle, he remotely guided Safari and other Afghan interpreters through the chaos of Kabul airport via text messages. He said Safari and other translators kept him alive while he was in Afghanistan.
“That’s what we know, and that’s why we’re working so hard right now to take care of them,” Adams said.
Adams risked his life to fight the Taliban and says America now has a moral obligation to the Afghans who helped.
“I don’t necessarily question the decision to leave,” he said. “I think we could have done a much better job of planning this and getting people out.”
More than 800 Afghans have already left Germany for the US. Safari told CBS News that its ambition now is to find work and live a peaceful life – waiting in Sacramento.