Afghanistan: NI could 'offer sanctuary' to some Afghan refugees

Northern Ireland has a duty to consider offering "sanctuary" to some refugees from Afghanistan, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said.

Almost 20 years after they were ousted from power, the Taliban has effectively seized control of the country.

It follows the withdrawal of most foreign troops in recent days.

Sir Jeffrey said people who supported the British army and Christian minority groups in particular should be offered support.

Afghanistan's capital city, Kabul, was the last major territory to fall to the Taliban, with the collapse of the country's government.

President Ashraf Ghani has also fled abroad.

On Monday, crowds descended on Kabul's international airport, which is under the control of US troops, in an attempt to leave Afghanistan.

Sir Jeffrey, who visited troops from Northern Ireland in the country a number of times, said it was evident the coalition-backed police and army "weren't up to the task of taking on a much smaller, less well-equipped Taliban".

He told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster he feared there would be "terrible consequences from the Taliban" for those citizens who "very courageously worked alongside our military".

"I think we have a duty to those people to see if we can provide them with sanctuary," he said.

"Afghanistan is half a world away and quite how we provide for the large number of people that might want to leave that country.

"It's more now for the neighbouring countries in the region to see how they can accommodate those who are fleeing in advance of the Taliban taking over.

"We also need to look at what's likely to happen to the small Christian minority in Afghanistan."

Sir Jeffrey, who is the MP for Lagan Valley, said these issues would be debated in Parliament on Wednesday.

However, he added politicians at Stormont would need to consider "our own resources back home" to judge how much help can be offered.

"We have lengthy waiting lists for housing as it is, so we have to see what is reasonable in terms of what we can accommodate," he said.

Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has said 15 Irish citizens are currently looking to leave Afghanistan.

Mr Coveney confirmed there were a total of 23 Irish citizens currently in Afghanistan, adding he was "very concerned" about the situation there.

"Some have expressed a preference to stay for now, because they are working with humanitarian organisations and doing very important work that is becoming even more important now," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.

Mr Coveney also said the Irish government had already made decisions about visa waivers for Afghan people.

"We've already approved 45 visa waivers - some of those people are trying to get out and some are in Pakistan having fled across the border and are flying into Ireland," he said.

"I have agreed we would certainly make available between 100 and 150 more places in terms of refugees, and we will be prioritising human rights organisations, media, women and girls, and other family members that are vulnerable."

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie, who served three tours in Afghanistan with the Royal Irish Regiment, said he had "a real sense of anger, a real sense of sadness, but most of all a real sense of fear" about what has happened.

"Fear for the people of Afghanistan, especially women and young girls who will now be airbrushed out of that society and repressed once again," he continued.

Mr Beattie, who reached the rank of captain, said he believed there would be reprisals for Afghan citizens who worked with and worked for the coalition forces.

"Nothing can stay there forever, but you stay there until it's the right time to leave," he said.

"Conflicts will only be fixed by a political solution but you have a political solution from a position of strength and not from a position of weakness.

"By announcing the withdrawal and then withdrawing so quickly the international community have hung out the Afghan government, its people, its security forces, to dry."

The Upper Bann assembly member said many women and young girls could face "virtual enslavement" with the potential for the "horrific" treatment of people in villages and rural areas under a Taliban regime.