Afghan refugee at Camp Atterbury shares experience escaping Taliban

EDINBURGH, Ind. (WISH) — Afghan refugees often bring with them stories of survival.

News 8 got a accidental to perceive immoderate of those stories during a circuit of Camp Atterbury connected Thursday.

Many refugees are inactive coming to grips with the thought that they whitethorn ne'er spot their location state again. One antheral News 8 spoke to said helium got the telephone telling him to get retired of Afghanistan astatine 7 successful the morning. Two hours later, helium was getting connected a plane.

Camp Atterbury representatives accidental they’ve been implementing programs to assistance with taste consciousness arsenic 1000 caput retired to go American neighbors.

The subject installation adjacent Edinburgh, Indiana, isn’t the vicinity oregon colony Afghans are utilized to, but it’s the 1 they person for now. It provides a spot of calm aft a whirlwind of chaos.

“I person my woman and 2 boys with me. We’ve been present astir 46 days now,” Aziz Sadat said.

Sadat, his woman and children person made Camp Atterbury their home. On Aug. 21, helium worked arsenic a authorities worker successful Afghanistan. The adjacent day, helium became a refugee.

“They took america to the airport, with a handbag. They didn’t let suitcases.”

He said it’s hard to recognize however the Taliban took implicit contempt the having an American-trained Afghan service and billions of dollars worthy of equipment.

“All of the things that we person successful our manus and they person fundamentally precise basal things successful their hands, and we mislaid the state that easy.”

Sadat’s household is astir finished gathering the requirements for resettlement, and helium says uncovering their adjacent location is weeks distant connected what’s called “humanitarian parole.” Government officials said it’s an extended process, 1 each Afghan refugees volition undergo. Officials person called the process highly personal.

“The ngo present earlier america is highly personal, arsenic we were to reset our Afghan friends and their families who service the United States and had to fly their state owed to fearfulness of retaliation for the work to the U.S.,” said Bill Hanson with the U.S. State Department.

Alongside the authoritative paperwork, Afghans volition person entree to English and American taste orientation, creation therapy, and women and girls’ empowerment initiatives.

Sadat said they had hoped to spot an Afghanistan ideology and alternatively they are surviving successful America’s.

“We are grateful to beryllium successful a harmless spot and person the accidental to commencement each implicit again.”

So far, 3 agencies successful Indianapolis are assisting with the resettlement, but they volition lone beryllium capable to assistance conscionable nether 500 people. So, officials person asked the nationalist to articulation a nationalist effort to sponsor Afghan families.