U.S. military bases that hosted Afghan evacuees during the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan incurred almost $260 million in damages, according to the Department of Defense’s inspector general.
The damages, which made some of the facilities not usable for American soldiers, came as the U.S. airlifted 120,000 individuals from Afghanistan in 17 days. Defense Department officials approved $259.5 million in repairs and restoration costs across Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine properties, according to an inspector general report made publicly available this week.
During the Afghanistan withdrawal, evacuees were temporarily allowed to stay at Fort Bliss, Texas; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey; Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; Camp Atterbury, Indiana; Fort Pickett, Fort Lee, and Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia; and Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
The Army entities with the most damages were: Fort McCoy ($145 million), Fort Pickett ($26 million), and Camp Atterbury ($15 million).
Fort Lee needed $632,000 to repair ceiling tiles, doors, and electric systems while Fort Pickett received funds for cleaning, painting, and repairing HVAC systems, and plumbing. At Fort McCoy, the majority of the damages were found at the 213 buildings housing Afghan refugees. The report says that some of the costs at Fort McCoy may stem from problems before the refugees came.
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