MANILA: Up to 300 Afghans arrived in the Philippines on Monday for a temporary stay and are undergoing resettlement in the United States, Philippine and U.S. officials said.
The Philippines and the United States signed an agreement last July allowing potentially hundreds of Afghans to stay in Manila while their U.S. Special Immigrant Visa Processing.
The move comes despite domestic opposition in the majority-Catholic country over security and other concerns.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs issued appropriate Philippine entry visas to these applicants in accordance with existing rules and regulations,” Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Teresita Daza said in a statement.
“All applicants completed extensive security clearance by Philippine national security agencies.”
An unnamed U.S. State Department official declined to specify the number of people involved, saying only “up to 300.”
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs stated in a statement that under the agreement, the U.S. government will bear the costs of the Afghans’ stay in Manila, including food, housing, medical care, security and transportation.
An earlier statement from the U.S. Embassy said the Afghans would be housed in a facility managed by the U.S. State Department’s Afghanistan Relocation Coordinator.
Daza had previously said Afghans would not be allowed to stay longer than 59 days and would be “confined to their residences” except for interviews with the embassy.
These applicants all underwent medical examinations in Afghanistan.
Tens of thousands of Afghans fled their country in a chaotic evacuation in August 2021 as U.S. and allied forces withdrew to end Washington’s longest war since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Many people who had cooperated with the Western-backed deported governments arrived in the United States seeking to resettle under special immigrant visa programs, but thousands were left in the United States or awaiting visa processing in third countries.
