The Foreign Service Journal, March 2022

42 MARCH 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Inside the Holding Facility ABU DHABI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Ravi Kaneriya “Yet love can move people to act in unexpected ways and move them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with startling heroism,” wrote the Afghan author Khaled Hosseini in his novel AThousand Splendid Suns . I couldn’t help but reflect on this quote when I thought about my early experiences at Abu Dhabi International Airport, working on the front lines, processing the very first flight of Afghan evacu- ees who arrived in the United Arab Emirates after fleeing Afghani- stan. I was struck by the spirit of the Afghans I met, who, facing harrowing experiences and overwhelming obstacles, managed to arrive in the UAE, exhausted and anxious about the future, and yet composed and polite despite everything they had been through. I saw children, some crying, but also some smiling and curi- ous as I met them—reminding me of the innocence of children, unaware of the dangers they had fled or the uncertain future before them. And I was also struck by the love, commitment, courage and sheer determination of parents, who had over- come impossible odds to bring their entire family, sometimes up to a dozen children, through the collapse of a country and in search of a better life. Later, working with our control room, I received the informa- tion of thousands of Afghan evacuees at a UAE holding facility, awaiting a coveted flight to the U.S. As I read their submissions one by one, I came to learn so much about the stories of indi- vidual people—the Afghan comedian and talk show host, senior Afghan military leaders, human rights activists, civil servants, teachers, athletes, entrepreneurs and people of every back- ground, socioeconomic class and life experience. I couldn’t help but feel that inside that UAE holding facility, there were so many talented, driven and decent people who wanted to be part of American society and had so much to offer. It’s true that not everyone in that camp followed the normal procedures for immigrating to the U.S., but the circumstances of their departures from Afghanistan were hardly normal. As Khaled Hosseini wrote in his other book The Kite Runner : “It may be unfair, but what happens in a few days, sometimes even in a single day, can change the course of a whole lifetime.” There are future American scientists, businesspeople, lawmak- ers, artists and even diplomats inside that holding facility in the UAE right now, if only we are ready to act with compassion, flexibility and pragmatism to embrace the huddled masses there, yearning to breathe free. Ravi Kaneriya is a public diplomacy officer, serving his first tour as a vice consul in Abu Dhabi, where he focuses on Iranian immigrant visas and supports the Afghanistan Task Force. Vetting Evacuees and Addressing Burnout AL UDEID AIR BASE, QATAR Paul S. Dever Early in the “Kabul Situation,” I volunteered to go to the Afghan capital to assist in the embassy shutdown and evacuation. I had served before at the embassy (2006-2007, and again 2014-2016) and was familiar with the mission and staff. For operational reasons, however, I was detoured to Doha, to assist in evacuee pro- cessing. I arrived there on Sept. 24 and began work the same day. Initially, I was assigned to the Al Udeid Air Base hangars where evacuees were being processed, where I liaised with agents from the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Patrol, the Transportation Security Administration and the FBI to ensure citizenship verification, and proper vetting and classifica- tions for the manifests. I joined the throngs of people, seeking out American citizens to ensure that they were processed expeditiously and to explain how delays could occur if they stayed with their “blended” families. I left the choice entirely up to them; after all, family is family. I ensured that the Afghan evacuees were properly informed and couldmake their best decisions. Identifying at-risk persons, due to single par- entage or disabilities, I facilitated their integration and feeding to ensure their stays were as comfortable as possible. I soon transferred to the management team in the personnel center provided to State by DoD at the airport. I took onmore responsibility, continuing the interagency collaboration in seeking data points for the four-times-daily “lily pad” reports required by the White House and others. Identifying a need to have “eyes on” non-base personnel at all times, I liaised with the flight teams to ensure an orderly procession of passengers headed onward to Europe or the U.S. The display of compassion and safety were recognized and appreciated by both passengers and teammembers. I also worked with the IT team at Embassy Doha to provide greater infrastructure and equipment to ameliorate data collection and transfer.