Colombia will temporarily receive 4,000 refugees and migrants from Afghanistan sent by the United States.

Photo: Semana.com

Colombia will receive about 4,000 people who have been evacuated from Afghanistan amid the security crisis in that Middle Eastern country after the withdrawal of US troops.

According to a source told The Washington Post, the Joe Biden administration is in talks with the government of President Iván Duque to send these people to the Latin American country.

Within the group are refugees (that is, people who have international protection status), others who have conditions to receive special migration visas, and some who could be received by the United States.

This operation is part of the process being carried out by the White House to evacuate Americans, Afghans who worked for that nation and other groups of citizens whose lives could be in danger with the rise to power of the Taliban.

Even though the troop exit was scheduled to end on August 31, the Democratic administration will keep soldiers on the ground for a few more days until the evacuation of its personnel is completed.

The decision of the Government of Iván Duque to receive 4,000 migrants and refugees from Afghanistan consolidates the country’s position as a receiving territory for human mobility.

In the last six years, Colombia has been the epicenter of migration from Venezuela. According to figures from Migración Colombia, 1.7 million Venezuelans have arrived in the country. However, the Dane census speaks of 2.2 million.

President Duque took a historic step by granting these people a Temporary Protection Statute. In addition to Venezuelan migration, the country is also on the transit route of human mobility for Haitian citizens and African countries.

President Iván Duque referred in a statement to the strong and historic alliance between the United States and Colombia, where he stated: “Colombia joins the group of allied countries that will offer support to the United States for those nationals of Afghanistan, that they have given help to the United States for years and that they are in the process of making a registration, a migratory transfer from that country so that they are in Colombia temporarily in strict coordination with the United States ”. He also expressed the importance of protecting the right to life and protection of vulnerable people, women and children.