Keep Your Border Open: US Tells Pakistan as more Afghans Flee after Taliban Takeover
- The United States has told Pakistan to let its border "remain open" to more refugees from Afghanistan
- Since the Kabul takeover by the Taliban, millions of Afghans have been fleeing their country in a desperate attempt to find solace elsewhere
- Afghanistan is presently embroiled in turmoil after President Joe Biden ordered the withdrawal of the US troops, opening the door for the Taliban
In the wake of a possible surge of violence in Afghanistan following the takeover of government by the Taliban, Pakistan has been advised to allow more refugees into the country.
A US senior State Department official gave this admonition while briefing journalists on the new US refugee admission programme for fleeing Afghans, Yahoo News reports.
What is happening in Afghanistan?
It would be recalled that After 20 years of its coalition and presence in Afghanistan with trillions spent in reinforcing the Afghan military operation against the Taliban, the United States withdrew its troops and embassy from the country on Sunday, August 15.
Source: Getty Images
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This followed the directive given by President Joe Biden who has been arguing that it is high time the Afghanistan troops faced the reality of their country.
The Taliban declared victory after Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, fled and his government collapsed amid heightened Taliban invasion.
Kabul, the last major city in Afghanistan, fell to a Taliban offensive that began months ago but accelerated in recent days as the conservative Islamists gained control of more territories.
The city has since become a scene of chaos, with heart-wrenching pictures and videos of Afghans trying to escape the Taliban draconian rule as they struggled to board a US military cargo plane leaving Kabul for Qatar flooding the social media.
The US official said in a situation like the current happenings in the US, it is important that Pakistan let its border remain open to more refugees, though there is a slim possibility of Pakistan taking more Afghans seeking asylum from the Taliban.
Since 1979, millions of Afghans have been admitted into Pakistan.
Facts about Taliban
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the Taliban came to prominence in 1994 during the Afghan Civil War, its ranks composed largely of students - from which the group - many of whom had been mujahideen resistance fighters who had battled occupation by the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
The Taliban was led by Mullah Mohammed Omar and conquered first the province of Herat and then the whole country by September 1996, overthrowing the Burhanuddin Rabbani regime and establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Source: Legit.ng
