United States congratulates Uganda and other countries for hosting Afghans
The United States on Thursday hailed Albania, Canada, Chile, Mexico and Uganda for agreeing to welcome the evacuated Afghans in a major airlift after the Taliban victory.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by telephone with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who announced on Sunday as the Taliban captured Kabul that he had accepted a request for temporary accommodation for hundreds of Afghans on their way to the United States.
Blinken “thanked Prime Minister Rama for continuing the proud Albanian tradition of sheltering those in need,” a State Department statement said.
The State Department has also expressed gratitude to Qatar and Kuwait, two US military centers where thousands of Afghans are airlifted for visa processing, but is scrambling to find more temporary locations due to the rapid overcrowding.
State Department spokesman Ned Price also thanked Uganda, where President Yoweri Museveni has expressed willingness to temporarily host Afghans, and said talks are underway with several European allies to do the same.
Price named Canada, Chile and Mexico as the countries that agreed to resettle the Afghans and commended them for their generosity.
The Canadian government said last week it would welcome up to 20,000 Afghan refugees, including female leaders, government officials and others threatened by the Taliban.
The United States has agreed to welcome on the path to citizenship tens of thousands of Afghans who served as performers or other supporting roles in the 20-year American war effort that ended in President Joe Biden.
As the Taliban swept across the country, the United States extended its evacuations to other people who feel threatened, including women’s rights activists, non-governmental organization workers and US-based media reporters. United.
European Union countries have also sent Afghan affiliates, but major bloc members France and Germany have both pledged to prevent irregular migration.
Europe experienced a political backlash in 2015 when more than a million asylum seekers, led by Syrians and Afghans, entered the bloc.