WASHINGTON, USA
The United States on Thursday saluted
Albania, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Uganda for agreeing to take in Afghans being
evacuated in a major airlift after the Taliban victory.
Afghan passengers sit as they wait to leave the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke
by telephone with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who announced Sunday just
as the Taliban were taking over Kabul that he had agreed to a request to accept
hundreds of Afghans temporarily on their way to the United States.
Blinken "thanked Prime Minister Rama
for continuing Albania's proud tradition of sheltering people in need," a
State Department statement said.
The State Department also voiced
gratitude to Qatar and Kuwait, two US military hubs where thousands of Afghans
are being flown for visa processing, but it is scrambling to find more
temporary locations due to rapid overcrowding.
State Department spokesman Ned Price also
offered appreciation to Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni voiced
willingness to take in Afghans temporarily, and said discussions were ongoing
with several European allies to do likewise.
Price named Canada, Chile and Mexico as
countries that have agreed to resettle Afghans and praised them for their
generosity.
The Canadian government said last week it
will take in up to 20,000 Afghan refugees including women leaders, government
workers and others facing threats from the Taliban.
The United States has agreed to welcome
on a path to citizenship tens of thousands of Afghans who served as
interpreters or in other support roles in the 20-year US war effort that was
ended by President Joe Biden.
As the Taliban swept through the country,
the United States expanded its evacuations to others who feel threatened,
including women's rights activists, workers for non-governmental organizations
and journalists with US-based media outlets.
European Union nations have also been
flying out affiliated Afghans but the bloc's key members France and Germany
have both vowed to prevent irregular migration.
Europe saw a political backlash in 2015
when more than one million asylum seekers, led by Syrians and Afghans, entered
the bloc.
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