U.S. scraps plan to use S.Korea, Japan bases for Afghan refugees -sources

U.S. service members provide assistance during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan, August 22, 2021. Picture taken August 22, 2021. U.S. Marine Corps/Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/Handout via REUTERS

SEOUL (Reuters) - The United States has decided against the idea of using its largest overseas military bases in South Korea and Japan to temporarily house Afghan refugees, two sources with close knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

U.S. officials "appeared to have figured out better sites and decided to remove both countries from the list because of logistics and geography among other reasons", one of the sources said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.