US decides against plan to use military bases in South Korea, Japan to house Afghan refugees: report

The U.S. has reportedly decided against using its military bases in South Korea and Japan to temporarily house Afghan refugees.

One source with close knowledge of the matter told Reuters that U.S. officials “appeared to have figured out better sites and decided to remove both countries from the list because of logistics and geography among other reasons.”

South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong told lawmakers on Monday that the U.S. “did discuss the possibility at the very basic level,” but added that it was “not discussed seriously,” according to Reuters.

U.S. Forces Korea at the time said in a statement that it would work with American departments and the Republic of Korea government, if tasked, “while maintaining our ROK-U.S. Alliance and obligation to provide and maintain a robust combined defence posture,” according to the news wire.

South Korea has also reportedly been working with the U.S. to pull roughly 400 Afghans who assisted South Korean troops and relief workers from the country and transport them to Seoul, two sources with close knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

“Despite some domestic resistance towards accepting refugees, these people helped us and it has to be done given the humanitarian concerns and the trust of the international community,” one source told Reuters.

The foreign ministry told the news wire that three military planes were dispatched to Afghanistan and surrounding countries to airlift the Afghan workers from the region.

When reached for comment, a State Department spokesperson referred The Hill to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s comments on the U.S.’s diplomatic efforts, adding that the administration is in contact with a number of countries who have offered support for the evacuation mission, and those that host U.S. military facilities.

“The Department of State is in contact with various countries that have offered support or are hosts to US military facilities that may be able to assist in evacuation efforts. We thank all of our allies that have assisted, or are considering assisting, in this unprecedented task,” the spokesperson said.

“We are unable to share details on private diplomatic discussions or transit logistics,” they added.

The conversation about potentially housing Afghan refugees at U.S. military bases in South Korea and Japan comes as American forces are working to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghan allies from Afghanistan amid a deteriorating security situation driven by the Taliban’s takeover.

Roughly 21,600 people were evacuated from Kabul yesterday, according to a White House official, bringing the total number of individuals pulled from the region since Aug. 14 to 58,700.

The Pentagon has authorized Afghan refugees to be held at three U.S. military bases: Fort Bliss in Texas, Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Fort Lee in Virginia.

Reuters reported earlier this month that members of President Biden’s administration had been holding covert talks with a number of countries in an effort to land deals with them to temporarily house Afghan allies within their borders.