Albania and Kosovo stated on Sunday (August 15) that Albania and Kosovo have accepted the request of the United States to temporarily accept Afghan refugees seeking visas to enter the United States.
In Tirana, Prime Minister Eddie Rama Rama stated that the administration of US President Joe Biden has asked NATO member Albania to assess whether it can serve as a transit country for some Afghan refugees whose final destination is the United States.
“We don’t say’no’, not only because our great allies ask us to do it, but also because we are Albania,” Rama said on Facebook.
Sources told Reuters that the Biden administration had discussed with countries such as Kosovo and Albania to protect US-affiliated Afghans from Taliban retaliation until they completed the US visa approval process.
In Kosovo, President Vjosa Osmani stated that since mid-July, the government has been in contact with the US authorities on the resettlement of Afghan refugees.
Osmani said on her Facebook account: “I did not hesitate…reflexively agreed to the humanitarian action.”
Osmani said that Afghan refugees will be reviewed by US security authorities and added that they will stay in Kosovo until their US immigration visa documents are arranged.
More than two decades after the 1998-99 war with the then Yugoslav security forces, hundreds of US troops are still stationed in Kosovo as peacekeepers.
