With the help of refugee resettlement organizations, Afghans evacuated after their country fell to the Taliban have gradually left military bases in recent months and started new lives in communities across the United States.

The United States admitted 76,000 Afghans under Operation Allies Welcome, the largest resettlement of refugees to the country in decades.

“This is a very important step in Operation Allies Welcome, but I want to emphasize that this mission is not over,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, President and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. , one of nine national resettlement organizations that were part of the effort.

Afghans still in their country but threatened by the Taliban regime as well as those who have arrived in the United States will still need assistance, Vignarajah said.

“Successful resettlement and integration will not happen in days or weeks,” she said. “Our new Afghan neighbors are going to need our support and friendship for months and years to come, as the challenges they face will not go away overnight.”

The United States plans to admit thousands of Afghan refugees over the next year, but they will arrive in small groups and be housed in a facility at a yet-to-be-determined location, the Department of Homeland Security said.

Refugee housing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in central New Jersey will remain open in the interim, the agency said. The base housed the largest number of Afghans, peaking at 14,500. The second largest was at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, where the last group departed last week.

Afghans went through immigration formalities and medical screenings while they waited in bases, often for months, until overstretched refugee organizations could place them in communities. The government established schools for the children who made up about 40 percent of the New Jersey base refugees.

Resettlement organizations and Homeland Security, the federal agency leading the effort, had set a goal of having everyone off base by Feb. 15. It was a challenge due to the scarcity of affordable housing, cuts to refugee programs under President Donald Trump and the large number of refugees.

Most of the refugees settled in established Afghan communities in northern Virginia and the surrounding Washington area, as well as northern California and Texas.

States where between 1,000 and 3,000 have settled include Arizona, New York, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, Nebraska and Pennsylvania, according to State Department data obtained by The Associated Press.

The DHS has previously said about 40% of Afghans would be eligible for the special immigrant visa for people who worked as military interpreters or for the US government in another capacity during America’s longest war.

Most others, however, do not yet have permanent legal residency in the United States because they are not under a refugee program but have been admitted under some type of emergency federal clearance. known as humanitarian parole.

Refugee advocates, including a number of prominent veterans groups, are lobbying Congress to grant permanent residency with an “Afghan Adjustment Bill,” similar to what was done in the past for Cubans and Iraqis.