By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi January 15, 2022 Even before the Taliban returned to power, hundreds of thousands of Afghans were looking for a way out of their war-torn homeland. In a desperate bid to escape endemic poverty and decades of war, many set their sights on an arduous route across foreign lands and treacherous seas to
BBC: A charity worker trying to help a doctor flee Afghanistan says he fears for the man’s life. Nich Woolf from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, met the man while working in Afghanistan and says he and his family are in danger from the Taliban. He has written to the Prime Minister for help in allowing the man
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 19, 2021 Hundreds of Afghans have braved freezing temperatures to stand in line outside the newly reopened passport office in Kabul, hoping to receive travel documents that would enable them to leave the war-ravaged country following the Taliban takeover in August. The crowd started to gather late on December 18,
AP: More than 28,000 Afghans have applied for temporary admission into the U.S. for humanitarian reasons since shortly before the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan and sparked a chaotic U.S. withdrawal, but only about 100 of them have been approved, according to federal officials. Click here to read more (external link). Related Biden administration considering sending some
Reuters: Tajik officials blamed U.S. bureaucracy on Wednesday for a near three-month delay in evacuating U.S.-trained Afghan pilots, who had flown their aircraft to Tajikistan to escape the Taliban takeover of their country in August. Click here to read more (external link). Related Taliban urge ex-Afghan military pilots to stay, serve nation Afghan Pilots Land
By RFE/RL’s Tajik Service November 9, 2021 Around 150 U.S.-trained Afghan pilots are preparing to depart Tajikistan to be relocated to the United States after nearly three months of detention, pilots and U.S. Embassy officials said. The 143 pilots and about 50 other Afghans, including journalists, are waiting at the airport in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe,
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 21, 2021 Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling on United Nations agencies and governments to increase their support for Afghans at risk who are seeking to flee their homeland or have already fled and are now in countries neighboring Afghanistan, transit countries, and countries of resettlement. In a new policy briefing
AP: More than 100 students, alumni and faculty members of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music have been flown out of Kabul on their way to Portugal, where the government has agreed to grant them asylum, the institute’s director said Monday. Click here to read more (external link).
Al Jazeera: The Taliban’s abrupt return to power has left hundreds of Afghan diplomats overseas in limbo: running out of money to keep missions operating, fearful for families back home and desperate to secure refuge abroad. “I am literally begging. Diplomats are willing to become refugees,”… Click here to read more (external link).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 16, 2021 Human rights and refugee groups are urging to the European Union to step up its protection for Afghans trying to flee their country following the Taliban’s takeover last month. “The EU should be sharing, rather than shirking, the responsibility to offer them protection,” Amnesty International, Caritas Europa, and