By Ben Kerrigan-
The government will work with international partners and other countries to resettle up to 20,000 Afghan refugees in the UK, Home Secretary Priti Patel has said.
Patel said a new scheme will see up to 5,000 Afghans eligible in the first year. Women, girls and religious and other minorities, who are at most risk from the Taliban, will be given priority under the scheme.
Thousands of Afghans have been desperately trying to flee the country after the militants seized control of the capital Kabul. According to reports, female journalists were being intimidated by the Taliban Death Squad .
However, she compared the new scheme to one introduced for Syrian refugees, which saw a similar number of people resettled over a period of seven years.
“We could end up bringing many more [than 20,000] but first of all we have to have the underpinning and the infrastructure and the support to do that,” she said.
Patel said a target of 5,000 in the first year was “deliverable”, adding: “It would be terrible quite frankly to bring people and not be able to give them the support that they would need in terms of accommodation, resettlement and giving them the opportunity to build a new life in the UK.”
Ms Patel said ministers would work with third party agencies, humanitarian organizations and other governments, including the US and Canada.
She added that people could also be resettled from neighbouring countries, as well as Afghanistan itself.
The leaders “resolved to continue working closely together on this in the days and weeks ahead to allow as many people as possible to leave the country”.