US media: Philippines agrees to "temporarily" resettle Afghans who assisted US troops
2024-08-22
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According to The Washington Post, U.S. and Philippine officials said that the two governments have reached an agreement to "temporarily" relocate some Afghans who once assisted the U.S. military in combat to the Philippines while they wait for the United States to approve their applications for visas to the United States.
The newspaper said the agreement was announced just days after the third anniversary of the collapse of the US-backed former Afghan government on August 15, 2021.
It is not clear where the first group of Afghans to be relocated to the Philippines under the agreement is now living, as tens of thousands of such Afghans who are still applying for US visas are spread across the world, seeking temporary residence wherever they are allowed.
The report cited U.S. officials familiar with the matter as saying that the agreement reached between the U.S. and Philippine governments requires the Philippine government to handle the resettlement of the first batch of about 300 Afghans who are waiting for the United States to approve their special immigrant visas. Due to the sensitivity of the topic, these officials who disclosed the matter did not want to be identified.
U.S. officials said one detail that the Philippines was very concerned about during the negotiations was that the arrangement would be "temporary," meaning that the Afghans would not stay in the Philippines for more than a few months. However, U.S. officials expect that after the initial hundreds of Afghans were "temporarily" resettled in the Philippines, the duration of the project could continue to be extended and the scale could be expanded, effectively turning the Philippines into another "transit station" for Afghans while they wait to go to the United States.
According to the report, senior officials of the US State Department previously claimed that in the past three years, the US government has resettled more than 160,000 Afghans in the United States, including Afghans who had directly supported the US military in combat and their relatives. Officials said that these people arrived in the United States through countries such as Qatar and Albania.
The Washington Post stated that after 20 years of invading Afghanistan, the United States hastily withdrew its troops from Afghanistan three years ago, accompanied by desperate and tragic scenes. Tens of thousands of Afghans who were eligible for transfer by the United States were left behind by the US military. During the withdrawal in August 2021, the extremist organization "Islamic State" launched a suicide bombing near the airport, killing 13 American soldiers and more than 170 Afghans. A few days later, a US drone launched an airstrike, killing seven Afghan children and three adult civilians.
US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 Source: Xinhuanet
