Countries around the world have ramped up efforts to resettle Afghan refugees escaping Taliban rule, with the UK pledging to take 20,000 people
By Taz Ali
Several countries around the world have pledged to resettle thousands of Afghan refugees who are frantically trying to escape Taliban rule.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Joe Biden have urged world leaders to increase aid to Afghanistan to prevent a humanitarian crisis erupting in the country.
Mr Johnson announced a new settlement scheme, which would allow up to 20,000 Afghan refugees to seek sanctuary in the UK over the coming years, with a focus on women, children and religious minorities. The first 5,000 are expected to arrive within the first year.
Canada has promised to resettle the same number. The country will house 20,000 Afghan refugees with a focus on rescuing those who face threats from the Taliban, including women leaders and government workers.
President Biden has authorised $500m (£364m) from an emergency fund to meet “unexpected urgent” refugee needs stemming from the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, including for Afghan special immigration visa (SIV) applicants.
Documents obtained by Fox News show plans to potentially relocate 30,000 Afghan refugees and visa applicants on bases in the US, including Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Fort Bliss in Texas.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a meeting of her Christian Democrats on Monday that Germany may need to grant asylum to some 10,000 Afghans who worked with the army as well as human rights activists and lawyers.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said his government intended to resettle 3,000 Afghan refugees through an existing humanitarian programme this year and indicated a hardline stance against those who enter the country “illegally”, saying that Australia would only resettle those who come through the “official channels”.
Nearly 200 Afghans who worked for France or who are under threat were evacuated from Kabul, French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted on Wednesday. In a speech on Monday night he said France was ready to help activists, artists and journalists who risk being targeted but did not confirm a number. He faced criticism for saying that Europe must “protect itself from significant waves of illegal migrants” from Afghanistan in the same speech.
Switzerland said it will not accept large groups of refugees arriving directly from Afghanistan, but promised to evacuate 230 refugees – local workers of a Swiss development agency and their families – whom the Taliban insurgents could see as “western collaborators”.
Meanwhile, Hungary said it was willing to help a “few dozen” of Afghans and their families who had helped Hungarian forces but firmly rejected the idea of accepting further asylum seekers who want to leave the country.
Austria has also refused to take any refugees and suggested “deportation centres” to be set up in countries neighbouring Afghanistan as an alternative to deporting arriving Afghans. Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said Austria must keep deporting illegal immigrants back to Afghanistan for as long as possible even as the Taliban have seized control.
Last month, Tajikistan announced it is preparing to take in up to 100,000 refugees from neighbouring Afghanistan. Imomali Ibrohimzoda, deputy head of Tajikistan’s emergencies committee, said the country was building two large warehouses to store supplies for refugees in the Khatlon and Gorno-Badakhshan provinces close to the border.
Uganda said on Tuesday it had agreed to a request from the US to take in temporarily 2,000 refugees from Afghanistan. Esther Anyakun Davinia, Uganda’s junior minister for relief, disaster preparedness and refugees, said they will stay in the east African country for three months before the US government resettles them elsewhere.
Similarly, North Macedonia will by the end of the week temporarily take in 450 Afghans seeking visas to enter the US, while the Biden administration is finalising an agreement with Qatar to temporarily house 8,000 refugees, CNN reported.
