In what it’s calling “Operation Allies Refuge,” the United States is moving an initial group of 2,500 Afghans, who worked for the Western coalition, as well as their families to the Ft. Lee base in Virginia.

Other bases may be used in the future, but those locations aren’t known yet.

Fort Lee is located about 25 miles south of Richmond, VA. It is the home of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command – Sustainment Center of Excellence. It will serve as a way-station for Afghans who have passed the State Department’s screening for special immigrant visas, said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. 

“These people and their families are in the very final stages of the SIV process, so there’s just not a need for them to be on a military installation for long before they’ll work through the resettlement process, so just a few days,” Kirby said.