EU discusses ways to deal with refugee flow

Brussels, August 31

European Union justice and home affairs ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and how Europe would deal with the flow of refugees and migrants it is expected to produce.

10mn kids in desperate need of aid: UN

• Nearly 10 million children in Afghanistan are in a desperate need for humanitarian aid and the Unicef ​​is appealing for about $200 million to respond to their needs, a UN official announced.
• The appeal covers a variety of sectors, including water, sanitation, child protection, nutrition, health and education, Herve De Lys, the Unicef ​​Representative in Afghanistan, told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York. IANS

Canada to resettle 5,000 refugees

Ottawa: Canada said on Tuesday that it would take in and resettle some 5,000 Afghan refugees’ evacuated by the US “Were pulling out all the stops to help as many Afghans as possible,” said Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino. Reuters

The meeting comes the day after the last US forces flew out of Kabul’s international airport, ending America’s longest war.

The 27-nation bloc is looking for ways to prevent a repeat of a 2015 refugee crisis fueled by Syria’s civil war. The arrival in Europe of well over a million migrants that year led to infighting among European Union member nations over how best to manage the influx. A new wave of migrants from Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate tensions. The EU is likely to provide funding to house refugees in countries bordering Afghanistan to prevent them heading for Europe.

“It’s important that we are in a position where we can avoid a humanitarian crisis, migratory crisis and a security threat from Afghanistan,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said before the ministers’ meeting. not wait until we have big flows of people at our external borders or until we have terrorist outfits being stronger,” she added. — AP

Global reaction

Will host 40K Afghans

Our focus now to help 10,000 to 40,000 Afghans who are entitled to come here because they had worked for the German organisations. — Angela Merkel, German Chancellor

Aid must not stop

The international community must remain engaged. Humanitarian assistance must keep flowing. Do not let the economy collapse in Afghanistan. — Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan Foreign Minister

Handled badly: Trump

Never in history has a withdrawal from war been handled so badly or incompetently as the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. — Donald Trump, Former US President