Hastily evacuated to Pakistan or other countries in August two years ago following the Taliban takeover of power, around 50,000 Afghan refugees could now be transferred to the Philippines, waiting for the United States to examine their requests. But some Philippine senators have already raised doubts. And in the meantime the refugees remain blocked and often persecuted
AsiaNews: Some Philippine officials and politicians have resisted Washington’s request to temporarily host some 50,000 Afghan refugees before they are transferred to the United States. “Although the proposed agreement is humanitarian in nature, it will not involve the admission or reception of Afghan refugees,” the foreign ministry said.
The request had already been presented in Manila in October last year, has explained the Philippine ambassador in Washington and cousin of current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez. He stressed that if the request is accepted, the United States will cover all costs. Speaking to the Senate, he also specified that these are not refugees, but former US government employees, who will arrive in blocks of about 1,000 people at a time.
With the Taliban’s return to power on August 15, 2021, tens of thousands of Afghans who had worked with the US military or media were evacuated to neighboring Pakistan and other third countries where their applications for a visa to the United States are being evaluated. United. However, the Washington government, after almost two years, still owes examine about 150,000 applications. Pakistan had barred entry to US officials tasked with conducting interviews with refugees by obstructing the establishment of resettlement centres. Meanwhile, in the last 18 months, the residence permits of asylum seekers who had managed to obtain them regularly have expired. Without documents, Afghans cannot study or work e they are arbitrarily sent back to the border or arrested by local authoritieswho often extort money from them with threats.
Ambassador Romualdez specified that the United States has simply asked for assistance in processing the visas, which will be issued by a special facility in the Philippines. While the Manila government has declared that it is evaluating the proposal (a decision should be taken in mid-July), Senator Imee Marcos, the president’s sister and head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has launched an investigation into the ‘agreement by expressing the doubt that some refugees may work as spies for the Americans: “In the last year, espionage and security threats have increased significantly due to the strong escalation of tension between rival superpowers,” said the senator at the parliamentary hearing. «The fact that the United States no longer wants to host these foreigners within American territory doesn’t worry us? They claim that the security risk will be very low, that only highly controlled groups will arrive and that the special visa for immigrants is guaranteed, yet they don’t want them,” Marcos continued.
The National Bureau of Investigation and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency have declared that they fear that “sleeper cells” of terrorists could be activated and even the vice president of the Philippines, Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo, has opposed Washington’s request , saying that the proposal could undermine the country’s sovereignty: «It seems that the verification process will be carried out by the United States. Therefore, this is an interference in our sole determination of who can enter our country,” a spokesperson for her told the media.