Afghan women launch school for refugees on US army base
Thomson Reuters Foundation On an army base in the US Midwest, dozens of Afghan refugee children sit with colouring books and pencils spread across their desks – listening intently as they are taught maths, English and how to prepare for life in the United States. The hundreds of children living temporarily at the Fort McCoy […]
Lithuania expels Afghanistan migrants despite European Court stand
Vilnius, LithuaniaReuters Lithuania on Thursday sent five Afghan migrants back to Belarus shortly after they had crossed the border despite the European Court of Human Rights earlier saying they should be allowed to stay. The migrants had tried to enter Lithuania unsuccessfully at least 10 times since 29th August, their lawyer said. Their case had […]
Echoes of 2015 as EU grapples with Afghan migration, security challenges
Brussels, BelgiumReuters European Union countries on Tuesday said they would step up aid to Afghanistan and its neighbours but could not agree a common policy on accepting asylum-seekers fleeing Taliban rule. Western nations involved in the fight against the Taliban have airlifted 100,000 people who supported them, and would take them in, along with others […]
Taliban rule presents aid agencies with moral, fiscal dilemma
Washington DC, USReuters As foreign governments, aid institutions and companies scramble to evacuate staff from Afghanistan, a crucial question is emerging: should they engage with the ruling Taliban or abandon years of investment in the country and 38 million Afghans? The Taliban in the past week has pledged peaceful relations with other countries, women’s rights […]
US refugee aid groups criticise Biden for stumbles in evacuating “desperate” Afghans
Washington DC/Chicago, USRNS As most Americans absorbed the shock of the Taliban’s full takeover of Afghanistan over the weekend, officials at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service followed the rapidly deteriorating situation with resignation, knowing it could have gone differently. In May, leaders at LIRS, one of several faith-based agencies contracted with the US Government to […]
Airlift begins for Afghans who worked for US during its longest war
Washington DC, USReuters Some 200 Afghans were set to begin new lives in the United States on Friday as an airlift got under way for translators and others who risk Taliban retaliation because they worked for the United States during its 20-year war in Afghanistan, US officials said. The operation to evacuate US-affiliated Afghans and […]
EU “wilfully blind” to risks of deporting Christian converts back to Afghanistan, says Amnesty report
World Watch Monitor European countries and the EU are “wilfully blind” to the risks facing Afghans who fail in their asylum claims and are sent home, according to a new report by Amnesty International. “All returnees face a real risk of serious human rights violations,” says Amnesty, but some, such as religious minorities and converts to […]