Riyadh has no plan to expel illegal Afghans

KABUL): The Ministry of Refugee and Repatriation on Wednesday said Riyadh had assured Kabul that illegal Afghan refugees and workers would not be forcibly expelled from the kingdom.

In a statement, the ministry said an Afghan delegation that visited Saudi Arabia two weeks ago had been able to convince Saudi authorities to exempt Afghans from their nationwide crackdown on illegal foreign workers.

Refugee and Repatriation Minister Jamahir Anwari, who led the Afghan delegation, met with his Saudi counterpart and reviewed the situation of 300,000 Afghan living in the country. He thanked Saudi Arabia for its efforts to assist Afghan refugees.

The statement said Saudi Arabia’s deputy interior minister Ahmad bin Mohammad Al-Salem called Afghanistan and Saudi as brotherly nations and assured the Afghan delegation they had no plan to expel Afghan refugees from the kingdom.

He said Saudi Arabia was interested in helping Afghans whether they were in Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan.

He said efforts were in place to legalise Afghan refugees in Saudi Arabia and soon they would be issued legal stay documents.

Currently more than 6 million Afghan refugees live in foreign countries.

mds/ma

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