Manila, 20 August 2024 (TDI): A “limited number” of Afghans will temporarily stay in the Philippines while being processed for resettlement in the US, Manila and Washington said Tuesday.
The timeline for the program is still being discussed by the two countries with both saying only a “limited number” of visa applicants will be covered, without providing exact figures.
The program to process possibly thousands of Muslim asylum seekers met with domestic opposition on security and other issues when first broached to the Catholic-majority Philippine public in 2023.
Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippines ambassador to the US, said at the time there were nearly 50,000 such visa-seekers, including the families of those who had worked for the US-backed government that was toppled by the Afghan Taliban.
Under the agreement, the applicants will stay at a facility operated by the US State Department’s Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, an embassy spokesman said.
A Philippine foreign department spokeswoman said each candidate would first have to get a Philippine visa and be medically screened in Afghanistan.
She said they can stay in the country for no more than fifty nine days and will be “confined to their billet facility” except for their embassy consular interview.
The US will support all “necessary services” including food, security, medical, housing, and transport during their stay in the country.
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Tens of thousands of Afghans fled their country in the chaotic evacuation of August 2021 as US and allied troops pulled out to end Washington’s longest war, started after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Many of those who had worked with the ousted Western-backed government arrived in the US seeking resettlement under a special immigrant visa program, but thousands were also left behind or in third nations, waiting for their visas to be processed.