“It is very disturbing to read that Albania is sheltering Afghans only because the US asked us to do so, as it is unreasonable to turn your back on them and blame only the US,” declared the Prime Minister, Edi Rama in another attempt to reject accusations made against him of the unilateral act of sheltering Afghans without any consultations on Wednesday.
“We were all there as part of NATO and these people were there for us because they believed in the ideals adhered to by the US and the EU,” said Rama, who added that Albania is sheltering Afghans outside its responsibility as a member country of NATO but because of what the Albanians are.
“We may not be rich, but we owe it to our Afghan friends in need, and we owe it to our tradition, our recent past as refugees, and also to the memory that will be left to our children,” said the PM.
The first group of the 350 Afghans is expected to arrive on Wednesday in Rinas airport in Tirana. They were planned to arrive on Tuesday evening but the attempt failed because of the hectic situation in Kabul.
But the former minister of justice, Ylli Manjani blasted Rama telling him that the more he spoke the more foolish things said about what is unfolding with the question of sheltering the Afghan refugees.
Manjani ridiculed on Wednesday Rama when the latter said that he is not sheltering Afghans because the US asked for that. “Where did you get them? By what plane are they transported?! How did he make their vetting?! Most importantly, when he got them himself, why did he have to negotiate with America?!” asked Manjani with a touch of irony.
Further on the former minister makes fun of Rama’s argument that Albania owes this to the Afghan people. “No Albanian has emigrated to Afghanistan to have any mutual debt. As far as we know, neither the Greeks, nor the Italians, nor the Germans, nor the Americans need today to shelter them for reciprocity,” said Manjani who wonders where Rama made friends with Afghans.
“Neither Erdogan does not say that thing,” said the former justice minister, who asked Rama to take the Afghans to his house and not expel students from their dormitories in Student City (Qyteti Studenti). /argumentum.al
