The EU should be able to accommodate 42,500 Afghans who want to flee after the Taliban coup. European Commissioner Ylva Johansson says EU countries must be able to respond to this urgent request from the United Nations. But the member states are not promising anything at the moment.
Outgoing Foreign Minister Anke Brookers-Knoll (Asylum) and her EU colleagues on Thursday met with Johansson and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on the fate of Afghan refugees. Determined to consider how to help the European Union, Grande and Johansson warned on that occasion that Afghanistan was in dire straits. And that Afghans who have sought refuge elsewhere also need help.
Grandi estimates that over the next five years, 85,000 of the most vulnerable Afghan refugees who have fled to neighboring countries will need “resettlement,” as it is called. He asked the European Union countries to sponsor half. Some member states have stated that they want to take in more Afghans, but the UNHCR has been unable to note any concrete commitments.
The Netherlands does not mention the numbers
Broekers-Knol and several of her colleagues have previously stated that they do not want to mention the numbers. This would only encourage Afghans to travel to the European Union. They first want to receive Afghans in their country and in neighboring countries.
Since the fall of Kabul and the chaos that followed the evacuation, the European Union has evacuated and housed some 22,000 Afghans, Johansson said. The Swedes pointed out that the number of Afghans who have fled their country so far is less than initially feared.
This is how the chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan went:
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