Unwilling To Accept Afghans After Taliban Came To Power, Austrian Chancellor: Obviously I Reject Them

Afghans (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Austria will not accept citizens fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban seized power in the country, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Sunday.

Austria has accepted asylum seekers who make up more than one percent of its population during the European migration crisis in 2015 and 2016.

Kurz built his career by going hard on immigration policy and winning every parliamentary election since 2017.

While the European Union seeks to evacuate Afghans who have helped for 20 years, Kurz said their arrival to Austria was not an option.

"Obviously I refuse to accept more people voluntarily and that won't happen during my reign," Kurz said in an interview with TV station Puls 24.

Austria already hosts more than 40,000 Afghan refugees, the second most in Europe after Germany (148,000), according to 2020 data from the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Austria's population is nine times smaller than Germany's.

Austria is also a neutral country and is not a member of NATO. They only sent a small number of troops to Afghanistan.

According to the Nato website, Austria only sends 16 troops on the Resolute Support Mission, which is organized to train and advise Afghan security forces.

"I don't think we should accept more people. Quite the contrary," Kurz said of Afghans leaving his country.

"Austria has made a huge contribution," he said, referring to the number of refugees and asylum seekers from Afghanistan in his country.

Kruz said people fleeing Afghanistan should remain in the region.

He added that neighboring countries, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, only host 14 and 13 Afghan refugees, respectively, as recorded in UNHCR data.