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Mexico City, Aug. 25 (Reuters) – Mexico welcomed 124 media workers and their families from Afghanistan, including journalists from the New York Times, the government said on Wednesday, as people flee after it took over the Taliban militant group.
They arrived early Wednesday morning at Mexico City International Airport, where Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard was waiting for them.
“Mexico has decided to support human rights applications for refuge, asylum and humanitarian visas for people in Afghanistan who have asked for this humanitarian condition,” Ebrard said.
The day before, five members of the Afghan robotics team for girls arrived in Mexico.
Mexico has pledged to help Afghan women and girls as they are concerned about their treatment under Taliban rule. Ebrard said on Aug. 18 that the country is processing refugee applications from Afghan citizens, especially women and girls, with the help of Guillermo Puente Ordorica, Mexico’s ambassador to Iran.
Ebrard helped quickly arrange the journalists’ departure from Kabul, which included a stopover in Qatar, prior to their final arrival in Mexico, according to the New York Times.
Reuters evacuated a group of 73 workers and their families from Afghanistan to Pakistan on Monday.
The Taliban took power in Afghanistan last week when the United States and its allies withdrew troops after two decades and the western-backed Afghan government and military collapsed.
The Taliban follow an ultra-hardline version of Sunni Islam. They have declared that they will respect women’s rights under Islamic law. When in power from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban, also guided by Islamic law, prevented women from working or going out without an all-encompassing burqa and prevented girls from going to school.
Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel and Cassandra Garrison; Adaptation by Will Dunham
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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