The first group of Afghans is expected to arrive in Albania on Wednesday. The arrival was originally scheduled to be on Tuesday evening, but this variant was canceled due to chaotic developments in Kabul, which condition changes of plans from hour to hour, reported VoA on Tuesday.
The first group will be composed of 300 to 350 people, mostly women and civil society activists in Afghanistan. The group of Afghans will probably settle down in some shelters in Durres and Tirana for a short period, and then the authorities anticipate finding a new location. At the moment, several hotels in Durres and some of the reconstructed buildings of the Student city (Qyteti Studenti) in Tirana have been identified, with a total capacity of two thousand people.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced two days ago that his government had responded positively to the United States’ request to host Afghan citizens whose lives are threatened by the Talibans who have taken control of Afghanistan. Such a unilateral stance of Rama has been harshly blasted by some opposition figures and civil society.
While the Albanian authorities are waiting for the first group, the US ambassador, Yuri Kim had a meeting with the Foreign Minister, Olta Xhacka, in charge of coordinating the whole process of reception and accommodation of Afghan citizens, on Tuesday.
“We had a fruitful meeting on the very challenging situation in Afghanistan. We thought it would be a good idea to coordinate closely,” said Ambassador Kim at the end of the meeting.
The Albanian government has said it is ready to host several hundred Afghans. But officially nothing final has been announced which is part of the blackout information theory of this government. The US Ambassador said she did not know any exact figure because the situation changes rapidly. / argumentum.al
