"EU to Provide 820 Billion KRW in Aid to Afghan Neighboring Countries to Accept Refugees"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] The European Union (EU) is pushing for a plan to provide 600 million euros (approximately 821.2 billion KRW) in aid to Afghanistan's neighboring countries. This is to encourage these countries to accept refugees fleeing from Afghanistan.

A British economic media outlet reported this on the 31st (local time). The aid targets include Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and possibly Iran. This funding is part of a 1 billion euro (about 1.3674 trillion KRW) support package for Afghanistan.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently toured five countries surrounding Afghanistan, including Turkey and Qatar, seeking cooperation on refugee issues. The Guardian reported, "The EU and Germany plan to provide 100 million euros (about 136.6 billion KRW) and 500 million euros (about 683.175 billion KRW), respectively, to support border management and counter-extremism efforts in Afghanistan's neighboring countries."

The reason the EU is providing funds to Afghanistan's neighboring countries to accept refugees is to prevent a 'second refugee crisis.' During the Syrian civil war, refugees poured into the EU via the Mediterranean and Southeastern Europe in 2015, causing conflicts among member states. At that time, the EU provided funds to Turkey to host refugees.

Austria, Denmark, and the Czech Republic stated before the EU Interior Ministers' emergency meeting on the Afghan situation held in Brussels, Belgium, "The most important thing at this point is to send a clear message to the region (around Afghanistan)" and "If (Afghan refugees) stay in the region, we will support the areas helping the refugees."

However, Afghanistan's neighboring countries argue that they have already accepted many refugees. Muhammad Faisal, Pakistan's ambassador to Germany, said, "Pakistan has already hosted 3 to 4 million Afghan refugees," adding, "Now it is time for large and wealthy countries that have said for the past 20 years that they would accept Afghan refugees to step up."

After German Foreign Minister Maas's visit, the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, "For security reasons, we have completely closed the border with Afghanistan." The ministry stated that there are no plans to reopen border checkpoints and that any attempts to cross the border will be stopped regardless of the reason.

It remains uncertain how many Afghan refugees the EU will accept. EU interior ministers discussed the issue of accepting Afghan refugees at the Brussels meeting but failed to agree on a joint policy due to differences among member states. The statement released after the meeting only included that "as part of international efforts, voluntary support may be provided in the form of resettlement, prioritizing vulnerable groups such as women and children."

Ylva Johansson, EU Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs, said, "No refugee acceptance targets have been set," and added, "We will hold meetings next month with countries inside and outside the EU that wish to accept Afghan refugees."

Meanwhile, the UK, which has left the EU, announced plans to accept 5,000 Afghans within this year and 20,000 over five years.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.