From Kabul to Kentucky: Afghans put down roots in refugee haven

FILE PHOTO: Mirwais Khan Zadran, 2, uses the computer at the library in Bowling Green, Kentucky, U.S., November 27 2021. The Zadran family, Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban, came to Bowling Green after a spell at a New Mexico military base. They secured a house and the children have been sent to school, with the help of local resettlement agency, the International Center. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (Reuters) - After exhausting journeys that took them from Kabul to Qatar to European cities to U.S. military bases, Afghan families fleeing the Taliban alighted in Kentucky, in a small city well versed in receiving refugees.

Bowling Green has welcomed waves of refugees over four decades, beginning with the Cambodians in the 1980s and then Bosnians in the 1990s, plus Iraqis, Burmese, Rwandese and Congolese and others, who have helped make the city of 72,000 a diverse and economically thriving place.