Montenegro Dismisses Media Reports About Hosting Afghan Refugees

Montenegro will not host any Afghan refugees fleeing the country after the Taliban took control of Kabul, Montenegro's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

In a press release, it confirmed that Montenegro supported a statement in which some 60 countries called on the new authorities "to respect and facilitate the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals and Afghans who wish to leave the country".

But it added that Montenegro was "not obliged to temporarily accept the residents of Afghanistan who helped allied forces, as no such obligation is foreseen by this statement".

"Montenegro has supported the initiative, which calls for all those who want to leave the country to be allowed to do so, including the need for roads, airports and border crossings to remain open," the press release confirmed.

However, Montenegro, "at this stage, will not receive refugees as is being arbitrarily stated in some media, so we emphasize that this topic should be reported with special sensitivity for the sake of precision in informing the public".

A number of Western countries have promised to take in significant numbers of Afghans fleeing Kabul, with the UK offering to host some 20,000, for example.

In the Balkan region, Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo have also agreed to give refuge to an unspecified number of Afghan civilians.

Montenegro participated in the allied peacekeeping force Afghanistan from 2010, and deployed a total of 557 army personnel there in 21 contingent rotations.

According to the Defence Ministry, since 2010 almost every fifth member of the 2,000-strong Montenegrin army participated in the NATO-led ISAF or Resolute Support missions. Montenegro spent some 2 million euros annually, or some 20 million...

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