The Foreign Service Journal, March 2022

38 MARCH 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL shepherding embassy employees and third- country national contractors out of Kabul through Qatar. I had only been in Doha for a little over a week and wanted to do my part. We expected a boring night of verifying mani- fests, checking Excel spreadsheets and greet- ing weary colleagues. The first sign of things to come was when a plane landed around 2 a.m. that, disconcertingly, had an Afghan family of six among the contractors and staff. For about 15 minutes, Nikhil and I scrambled, reaching out to Ops, Consular Affairs in Washington and anyone who could help figure out what to do about this family—these initial six evacuees, the harbingers for the more than 123,000 people who would follow in the coming weeks. Heart-wrenchingly, they immediately asked to go back to Afghanistan because they were worried about parents and siblings who had been separated at a Taliban checkpoint. After explaining that that was impossible, we managed to get them some cots and settled them in a tent near the in-processing ter- minal by the tarmac. Just as I was starting to feel like I had things under control, I got that tap on the shoulder. They say that in crisis, things become a blur; but it’s the oppo- site. I learned from combat experiences in Iraq that things slow down, and the brain becomes transfixed, like tunnel vision. I remember what happened next with absolute clarity. I called the chief of mission to tell him about the inbound flight, and suggested to the military that they wait and see what the passen- gers’ intentions were before rushing to conclusions. Sure enough, once it landed, the C-17 was half-filled with women and children. A few had luggage; most had nothing. One man was wearing only one shoe. A pregnant woman’s water broke. The looks of terror and exhaustion in their faces were visceral. We greeted them as best we could, emptying out a large bay that quickly filled up, and handing out MREs (meals, ready- to-eat) and water amid the crush and smells of hundreds of people packed together. By 5 a.m., the scorching 120-degree, 100 percent humidity Qatari heat loomed. Because the bay couldn’t fit everyone, we decided to have a dozen transport buses come down to the tarmac and loaded them up. It wasn’t comfortable, but at least there was air conditioning. I did a rough count and estimated there were around 640 people. A colonel told me I was crazy—“C-17s can only hold 250 people max.” Turns out we both were wrong; there were actually 823 passengers (as captured in the infamous photo of the packed cargo hold, page 37). By 6 a.m., embassy leadership had arrived, and Nikhil and I were able to step back, shaken. But the respite was brief. For the next 17 days, I would be co–site lead at nearby Camp As Sayliyah, where at any moment 8,000 evacuees were housed in facilities built to accommodate 2,500. But that is a whole different story, with its own heart- breaking and uplifting moments that will both haunt me and fill me with pride for the rest of my life. Mark Padgett is the political-military officer at U.S. Embassy Doha. Prior State Department assignments include Iraq, Mexico and Venezu- ela, as well as Washington, D.C. He was an Army officer with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan before joining the Foreign Service in 2013. In Limbo in Abu Dhabi EMIRATI HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE CENTER, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Cynthia Segura “And how many bags do you have?” I asked the patriarch of a family of nine. The translator conveyed the answer: “One.” I handed him the luggage tag and wished them a safe trip. Silently I hoped that their one suitcase contained nine jackets for their arrival in Philadelphia. Like so many of the families fleeing Afghanistan, they barely escaped with the clothes on their back. These were the lucky ones, traveling to a new life in the United States. In October I had the opportunity to work in Abu Dhabi at the Emirati Humanitarian Assistance Center, or EHC. The experience provided me insight into the plight of the Afghan people and the complexities of the largest airlift in history. The EHC’s role is unique in the Afghanistan evacuation in that evacuees are not hosted at a U.S. military base nor under the care and control of the U.S. government; they are guests of the Emirati government and housed in apartment buildings with all their basic needs provided.They are not allowed to leave, except for medical care, until they depart for relocation. Some evacuees have been there for more than 75 days, and counting. Some have a clear path to the United States; but for many, the onward path is less certain. Evacuees finally board a flight out of Kabul. BOBSHIM