PRIME MINISTER: Erna Solberg says that there were good reasons why some ex-employees were not allowed to stay in the previous round. Now the government is bringing home more people who work locally for Norway today. Photo: Terje Bringedal
––
Prime Minister Erna Solberg is now answering the party leaders who demand that Afghans who have assisted Norway should be given a new opportunity to stay in Norway.
–
– We have brought back ex-employees and we are bringing back those who work there now. We had a scheme until 2015 where all those who applied were treated. There are about ten people who did not get access. None of them were rejected because they did not meet the criteria, but there were other reasons for the rejections, says Erna Solberg (H) to VG.
She believes there were compelling and serious reasons why they were not granted residence. These include security reasons and abuse in individual cases, she says.
– Are there many who have worked for Norway who fell outside the criteria at the time?
– I do not know. I only know about the ten who had applied, who met the criteria and did not get a stay, says Solberg.
She says that around 360 people have so far been brought to Norway.
—-WANTS TO HELP: Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre calls the development in Afghanistan dramatic, and that there is reason for deep concern for civilians. Photo: Rodrigo Freitas
––
– Get ex-employees
Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre demanded earlier Sunday that Norway bring home or help those who have worked for Norway in Afghanistan.
– It presupposes that the Norwegian authorities have an overview of those who risk their safety now due to work for Norway. I have deep sympathy for the situation they are in, says Støre to VG.
We are talking about several dozen people, employed by the Norwegian forces.
Støre calls the development in Afghanistan dramatic, and that there is reason for deep concern for civilians.
Minorities, women, those who have reason to fear the Taliban they knew. At the same time, it is an open question whether the Taliban 2021 is the Taliban who ruled Afghanistan in the 90s.
KrF leader Kjell Ingolf Ropstad opens for a new assessment of the applications from Afghan ex-employees for a stay in Norway and will take this up in the government, writes NTB.
– The UDI processes these applications. There are records and other things that are stated as very compelling reasons for rejection. For my part, it is not dangerous to go through these applications again, says Ropstad to NTB.
– I will discuss it with my colleagues in the government. The feedback I have received is that there are very compelling reasons for rejection, and it will probably not change after a new review.
– Begs for help
Red leader Bjørnar Moxnes tells VG that they have been in contact with former defense employees in two Afghan cities who fell to the Taliban yesterday.
– These people say they are on the Taliban’s death lists, because they have worked for the Norwegian forces, and are now begging for help from Norway to get out, says Moxnes and continues:
– Rødt’s message is crystal clear, the government must get all the former defense employees in safety now. For some it may already be too late, but I really can not believe that Erna Solberg today will leave those who have worked for Norway and who can still be saved, to the certain death in the hands of the Taliban. Norway cannot live with that shame, he says.
—-REQUIRED NORWAY TO RECEIVE EX-EMPLOYEES: Rødt’s Bjørnar Moxnes. Photo: Gabriel Aas Skålevik / VG
––
The Norwegian party leaders receive support from the Norwegian people.
In a survey conducted by Kantar for Defense Forum it turns out that two out of three Norwegians will give residence to all Afghans who have worked for Norway.
38 percent completely agree, while 28 percent partially agree, while only 8 percent answer that they completely disagree with the question. The measurement was made in the period from 4 to 10 August.
– New situation now
– It is a dramatically serious situation in Afghanistan, with a very high risk for many people. Now it is crucial to take care of your own employees. This also applies to all Afghans who work and have worked with Norway for many years, says parliamentary representative Ola Elvestuen, who speaks on behalf of the Liberal Party.
Elvestuen believes the situation is completely different now than last time they had the opportunity to apply and therefore the applications must be seen again.
– They are exposed to great risk and they have been working for Norway. It is not enough to say that they have applied before. That it was safe enough then, must not be used against them now, he says.
The MDGs are very clear in their message.
– The most basic thing in soldier culture is that you leave no one in the hands of the enemy. We can not now leave those who have worked for us on the battlefield, leave them to certain death. It is completely reprehensible what the government is doing now, and it could also endanger the lives of Norwegian soldiers in future foreign operations, says Sigrid Z. Heiberg, foreign policy spokesperson in the MDGs.
She believes that we now risk that the local employees in other countries in which we have a presence will no longer stand up for Norway.
– All Afghans who have worked for Norway and helped Norwegian forces, and who are now in danger, must therefore now be taken out and given protection. These people have had an employment contract with Norway. They have trusted us, and now we have to stand up for them, says Heiberg.
–
