Washington: Secretary of State Antony Blinken says 13 countries have thus far agreed to at least temporarily host at-risk Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan and a dozen more have agreed to serve as transit points for evacuees, including Americans and others.
Blinken says in a Friday statement that potential Afghan refugees not already cleared for resettlement in the United States will be housed at facilities in Albania, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, Qatar, Rwanda, Ukraine and Uganda.
Transit countries include Bahrain, Britain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
Blinken says: We are encouraged by other countries that are also considering providing support. We have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas and to fulfill our commitments to citizens of partner nations and at-risk Afghans.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that his country will work with the Taliban if necessary , as the group has regained control of Afghanistan.
What I want to assure people is that our political and diplomatic efforts to find a solution for Afghanistan, working with the Taliban, of course, if necessary, will go on, Johnson told reporters here on Friday.
He said the situation at the Kabul airport, where thousands of Afghans gathered in hopes of boarding an evacuation flight, was getting slightly better and he saw stabilisation
The UK has been able to evacuate about 2,000 people, including British nationals and Afghans who worked with Britain, since Thursday, the Prime Minister said.
Earlier this week, the Home Office introduced a bespoke resettlement plan, promising to take in up to 20,000 Afghans in the long-term, with some 5,000 being in the first year.
The plan was considered far from enough to deal with the Afghan crisis by British lawmakers who met for an emergency Parliament session on Wednesday.
Leaders of the G7 will meet online early next week to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, as the rift between Washington and its European allies seemed to have widened over the former’s hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.