The British Home Office has announced that the resettlement program for Afghans in the country will begin in January 2022 and that 20,000 Afghans will be resettled in the UK.
A statement from the British Home Office, posted on its website on Thursday (December 23rd), called the “Afghan Citizens Resettlement Program” “the most ambitious” program in the world.
Afghans who have supported British efforts in Afghanistan and defended values such as democracy, women’s rights, freedom of expression and the rule of law, and those who are most vulnerable, such as women and girls at risk and members of minority groups, are at the forefront of the agenda.
The Home Office has said, however, that those who come to the UK under the program are subject to the same stringent security checks as those eligible for other immigration programs.
Victoria Atkins, the British government’s Minister for Afghan Resettlement, is scheduled to present details of the plan and how it will be implemented to the British Parliament in January.
The Minister for Afghan Resettlement in the UK is a ministerial office set up jointly in September this year by the Home Office and the British Housing and Community Development Administration.
The British Home Office has said that the resettlement program will provide Afghan citizens with safe and legal travel to the UK.
The British government evacuated more than 15,000 Afghan nationals during the evacuation operation from Afghanistan on August 15-30, but the 20,000 to be resettled in Britain are an additional 15,000. Which were evacuated in August.
Various British government departments have launched a major effort to resettle Afghan citizens, and sufficient funds have been allocated to local councils to implement the program.
At the same time, the German Foreign Ministry has said it is accelerating the evacuation of more or less 15,000 Afghan nationals who have worked with German forces in Afghanistan over the past two decades, as well as other vulnerable Afghans.
Germany has so far facilitated the departure of about 10,000 people since the Taliban took control of Kabul; About 5,300 people were evacuated by military aircraft during the evacuation operation and another 5,000 by the end of the evacuation process.
German Foreign Minister Enlina Birbock said on Thursday (December 23rd) that talks with Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan should be resumed to open new avenues for Afghans to leave. Germany is currently working with Pakistan and Qatar to withdraw Afghans.