Europe Braces for Immigration Surge as Afghans Flee Taliban
PARIS—Europe’s major nations have airlifted additional than nine,000 Afghans out of their place in current weeks and are bracing for the possibility that hundreds of 1000’s additional will arrive, in what would be a important test of the region’s capacity to take in one more wave of immigrants from the Muslim entire world.
Officials are identified to stay clear of a repeat of the chaos of the last important migrant wave in 2015, when additional than one.three million people today from Syria, Afghanistan and other nations poured into Europe, fueling social and political upheaval throughout the continent.
A central challenge for authorities is to rapidly and effectively screen new arrivals, who are coming from a conflict zone controlled by Taliban forces hostile to the West and the place Islamist terror teams this kind of as al Qaeda and Islamic State run. Quite a few lack passports or other reputable identification paperwork.
Previously there have been problems. French and German authorities said this week they experienced flagged numerous evacuees as safety challenges, with France putting 5 of them beneath surveillance.
A bigger challenge looms as Afghans touring by land routes are predicted to reach the continent in what officials count on to be a lot bigger figures.
