Austria confirms its hard line: it will send asylum seekers back to Kabul despite the advance of the Taliban. Albania instead opens its doors to the arrival of the fugitives
With the rapid deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan (today the Taliban have entered the capital Kabul), the problem of refugees coming from the tormented country: both those who are already in Europe – and are waiting for them to be recognized right of asylum – both those that are expected to escape towards the West starting in the next few weeks. In the area ofKabul airport thousands of people are massing looking for a way to escape; the same is happening on the borders with Iran and Tajikistan. As far as Europe is concerned, diplomacy is currently divided.
Austria for example, it keeps its own hard line on the repatriation of migrants and Afghan asylum seekers despite the advance of the Taliban. This was confirmed on Interior Minister Austrian, Karl Nehammer. Those in need of protection must receive it as close as possible to their country of origin, the minister said. A general ban on deportation is a pull factor for illegal immigration and only fuels the activity of smugglers and organized crime. Austria was one of six EU countries that insisted last week on their right to forcibly expel rejected Afghan asylum seekers. Three of these Member States – Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands – then changed their position in this regard, blocking returns. The Austrian newspaper Osterreich published an opinion poll according to which up to 90 percent of respondents support the government’s line on expulsions.
On the opposite side the government of the’Albania, A country for many years at the center of migratory movements and which just 30 years ago witnessed a mass flight of its inhabitants to the Italian coasts. The premier announced it from Tirana Edi Rama which has given its willingness to welcome a few hundred refugees from Afghanistan because they sided with NATO and they helped our soldiers in their peacekeeping mission and now they are risking to be massacred like animals by the Taliban. Rama makes it known that he has responded positively to a request made by the US because we are longtime allies of the United States, not just when we need it for our problems. Other European governments, including the Italian one, have guaranteed the expatriation not only of their compatriots but also of the Afghan citizens who have collaborated with them in these twenty years.
August 15, 2021 (change August 15, 2021 | 20:05)
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