"I am alone, I have no one." Afghan refugees arrive in a purgatory between hell and uncertainty

By Saphora Smith - NBC News

These are the lucky ones.

Those who made it out.

Those who survived

.

Thousands of Afghans, some too small to walk and others too old to walk, were evacuated by the United States as deemed vulnerable, and

are

now

cornered behind the wire fences

of a colossal American air base in western Germany.

Many fled for their lives amid the uproar over the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, convinced the militant group would show no mercy.

Gray military buildings, fences and roads cannot contain

the eruption of new life

from the tents and hangars where new residents are housed.

Men crouch over drains to wash their faces, clothes dry on fences, a children's soccer ball soars into the air only to be returned by a man in uniform.

[Taliban threaten Afghans as US accelerates evacuation]

U.S. Air Force Airmen play soccer with Afghan evacuees at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. U.S. Air Force via REUTERS

Despite being surrounded by thousands of people, Maryam Rezaie, who wears red-rimmed glasses and has a moon-shaped face, feels lonely.

Rezaie, just a teenager, left Kabul alone after being separated from her family in the chaos on the way to Kabul airport.

The family was fleeing the Taliban, he said, fearing they would be targeted because his father worked for a US company.

Now he is thousands of miles away, in Germany, under a gray sky and in tears.

He says that he cannot contact his family, that they are offline.

"I'm here alone and I don't have anyone

," Maryam said Monday, "I really don't know what will happen to my family," she said.

Maryam and other Afghans who traveled here find themselves in purgatory, trapped between the hell of Kabul and their uncertain new lives.

They left with almost nothing

, carrying only what they could carry themselves and their clothes on.

[This Latino veteran says he was the last soldier to leave Vietnam: the dramatic evacuations from Afghanistan bring back memories]

A tragic shooting caused new chaos at Kabul airport on Monday, where thousands of Afghans are still waiting to flee the country before the Taliban take over.

Many of those trapped in the capital are

increasingly desperate

and send requests for help to people from abroad.

Despite having promised a general amnesty, the Taliban have resorted to violence in their attempt to consolidate control of the country.

At Ramstein Air Base, the newcomers cling to their phones: a means of communication with loved ones, a gateway back to Afghanistan.

Despite being out of reach of the Taliban, Maryam said she feels her life is still uncertain and she is concerned for her safety as a single woman living with Afghan men.

Until recently, the biggest challenge for her was leaving home for college.

Like other Afghans who arrived here crammed into US military planes, she had plans before the arrival of the regime.

He had received a scholarship to study politics at a university in Iran.

But then the United States began to withdraw from Afghanistan and his life fell apart.

These are some of the prohibitions imposed by the Taliban on women in Afghanistan

Aug. 20, 202102: 03

["There will never be a good time": Biden defends his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan]

Many of those in Ramstein had sided with the President, Joe Biden, and his predecessors, and worked with the US Army, Government, or government-funded programs for 20 years after the previous Taliban regime was overthrown. .

Those in Ramstein may have received their exit ticket, but they

know many more people who were unable to escape

. 

As of Wednesday morning,

7,500 people

had been evacuated to Ramstein Air Base.

This represents about 10% of the total number of people who, according to the US government, have been airlifted from Afghanistan since August 14, but only a fraction of those who are desperate to escape.

The base has a capacity of up to 10,000 people, Brigadier General Joshua Olson, the base's commander, told reporters Monday.

Of those evacuated to Ramstein, about 300 were Americans and 700 had green cards, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

Thousands struggle to get out of Afghanistan as chaos reigns in the streets

Aug. 20, 202102: 25

The United States is rushing to prepare other bases to receive more evacuees.

A senior State Department official said Monday that eight transit centers were open in six countries and that US allies and partners were hosting

more than 17,000 evacuees

.

The official said the US expected capacity to continue to increase as other countries open transit hubs.

But Washington

is running out of time

. 

Biden said Tuesday that he was sticking to his current Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, despite pressure to extend the deadline and allow more evacuations.

The Taliban have warned that the deadline is a "red line": if it is crossed, there will be consequences.

Meanwhile, Afghans in Ramstein sit and wait for news from their families.

"

I am here physically, but not mentally,

" said 25-year-old Mustafa Sekandari.

Sekandari said that he worked for the Afghan Ministry of Defense in Kabul and that he is the only member of his family who managed to leave the country.

"I only think about what will happen to them," he said. 

His parents and four siblings are trapped in Kabul and, like others on the base, he is terrified that his family will not make it out.

"

In Afghanistan, nobody knows what the future holds

," he said.

In Ramstein, meanwhile, Afghan evacuees are registered in the system, undergo health checks and offered food. 

This Chilean journalist in Afghanistan recounts the chaos at the airport and the drama of women

Aug. 23, 202103: 13

A few

glimpses of joy

seep through in the midst of this great tragedy. 

US Army Capt.Erin Brymer, 28, a registered nurse at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, described to reporters Monday how she had helped deliver a baby aboard a plane evacuating people from Afghanistan after landing at Ramstein Air Force Base this weekend.

"She was pretty scared, which is understandable, and I didn't know if she spoke any English," he said.

"So I was just trying to make eye contact, like,

'You're going to make it,

Mom," she recounted.

Brymer, who is from Montclair, Virginia, said it was her first delivery outside of a hospital and that upon arriving on the plane she found a group of Afghan women gathered around the future mother, holding shawls to protect their privacy.

"It was a very beautiful scene," he concluded.