20,000 Afghans fleeing Taliban rule will be resettled in the UK. As a result of the Taliban’s return to power, Britain announced a resettlement scheme for Afghans fleeing the Taliban’s rule.
A special session of parliament is scheduled to debate the breakdown of the Afghan government so soon after the withdrawal of western forces, and this announcement coincided with it.
A total of 900 British troops have been deployed in the Afghan capital in response to the Taliban’s return.
Women, children, and those forced to flee or suffering threats and persecution would be given precedence, and they would be given the possibility to reside in Britain indefinitely.
A statement from the Home Office said that the resettlement program would be reviewed in the future, with a goal of resettling up to 20,000 people over time.
In 2014 and 2015, 20,000 Syrian refugees were rehoused under a similar program.
President George W. Bush’s “war on terror” began after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington included Britain as a close ally.
Helmand, a volatile province in southern Afghanistan, was home to 9,500 British troops and 137 sites. More than 450 servicemen were killed as a result of its action.
Former US President Donald Trump mediated an agreement that led to the withdrawal of US-led forces and allowed for the Taliban to return practically unchallenged. However, leading politicians and military leaders have criticized Trump’s arrangement.
In the face of Taliban leaders’ promises of amnesty and a promise not to retaliate, the government said it was working with foreign allies, including in the “Five Eyes” intelligence collaboration with the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, to identify those at danger.
‘Debt of gratitude’
G7 leaders must convene immediately, Boris Johnson says, if they want to avoid Afghanistan from devolving into a humanitarian catastrophe and to increase relief resources.
All those who have worked with us to make Afghanistan a better place over the last 20 years owe us a duty of appreciation, he said.
In particular, “many ladies are in desperate need of our assistance.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel, whose family escaped Idi Amin’s Uganda for Britain, said the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme “will save lives.”
“We have a long tradition of providing refuge to individuals in need. The people who have been forced to escape their homes and are now living in fear of what could happen next will not be abandoned by us “she told me.
As a result of its divorce from the European Union, Britain has been criticized for slashing its foreign aid budget and tightening immigration laws, notably for refugees — many of whom are fleeing crisis zones — who cross the channel from France.
After the Taliban regime was overthrown in late 2001, the government was under pressure to do more to help resettle Afghan interpreters who had worked for the military.
The latest statement is unrelated to that program, which aims to relocate 5,000 former employees and their families by the end of the year, with 2,000 already arriving.
520 British nationals, diplomats, and former Afghan personnel have departed Afghanistan aboard military flights since Saturday, the eve of the Taliban’s conquest of Kabul, according to the Home Office.
Source: Reuters