MANILA: A “limited number” of Afghans will temporarily stay in the Philippines while being processed for resettlement in the United States, Manila and Washington said Tuesday. The timeline for the program is still being discussed by the two governments with both saying only a “limited number” of visa applicants will be covered, without revealing exact figures.

The program to process possibly thousands of Muslim asylum seekers met with domestic opposition on security and other grounds when first broached to the Catholic-majority Philippines public last year. Jose Manuel Romualdez, the Philippines ambassador to the United States, said at the time there were about 50,000 such visa-seekers, including the families of those who had worked for the US-backed government that was toppled by the Taleban. The Philippines had received a request from the United States in October 2022 to temporarily host the Afghans.

Under the deal, the applicants will stay at a facility operated by the US State Department’s Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, an embassy spokesman told reporters. A Philippine foreign department spokeswoman said each candidate would first have to secure a Philippine visa and be medically screened in Afghanistan.

She said they can stay in the country for no more than 59 days and will be “confined to their billet facility” except for their embassy consular interview. Washington will support all “necessary services” including food, housing, security, medical, and transport during their stay in the country.

Tens of thousands of Afghans fled their country in the chaotic evacuation of August 2021 as US and allied forces pulled out to end Washington’s longest war, launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Many of those who had worked with the ousted Western-backed government arrived in the United States seeking resettlement under a special immigrant visa program, but thousands were also left behind or in third countries, waiting for their visas to be processed. Afghanistan’s Taleban rulers insist no harm will come to anyone who collaborated with Western powers or the former government, and are encouraging those who have left to return and help rebuild the country. — AFP