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First evacuation flight for Afghans working with US troops as interpreters takes off.

Airliner carrying 221 Afghans interpreters and others who worked alongside US forces lands in Washington.

The first flight evacuating Afghan interpreters and others who worked alongside the United States forces in Afghanistan has landed at Washington Dulles International Airport, the US government has announced.


An airliner carrying 221 Afghans, including 57 children and 15 babies, according to the internal document obtained by The Associated Press, touched down at the airport early on Friday morning.

The White House confirmed that the Afghans were the first of about 2,500 Afghans – composed of 700 “principal” applicants and their families – to be evacuated to the US in the first group of relocations. That group has already been approved for the special immigrant visas and cleared background checks, according to the White House.


Many Afghans who worked with the US-led NATO forces fear reprisals from the Taliban with US troops scheduled to depart by the end of August, nearly 20 years after they first arrived.


In a statement on Friday, Biden called the flight “an important milestone as we continue to fulfill our promise to the thousands of Afghan nationals who served shoulder-to-shoulder with American troops and diplomats over the last 20 years in Afghanistan.”


“These first Afghans are able to come directly to the United States because they have already completed extensive background checks and security screening by the Intelligence Community and the Departments of State and Homeland Security,” he said.


“They will complete the final steps of their visa applications and required medical checks at Fort Lee, in Virginia, before traveling onward to begin their new lives in the United States.”


The US is partnering with the United Nations International Organization for Migration to relocate the families across the country.



“They have told us that they are incredibly worried about the security and privacy of these interpreters,” she said.

“They are worried that if any logistics get out now about who these people are and how they are getting out, it will put in jeopardy the future of the evacuees and put them in harm’s way.”

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