Minister says 160 refugees welcomed since June

About 160 Afghans have been welcomed in Scotland as refugees since late June this year, a Scottish Government minister has said.

Angus Robertson said the 43 families who had arrived in Scotland had been resettled in eight local authority areas.

A further 20 families, consisting of around 70 people, are expected to arrive in the first weeks of September.

MSPs debated how to support people in Afghanistan in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.

Following the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, more than 120,000 people were airlifted out of the country from the capital’s airport.

Mr Robertson, the external affairs secretary, said: “Now that the flights have ceased, and there is no western presence in Afghanistan, we must ask ourselves, what can Scotland do?”

Comparing the current situation to the Syrian crisis, he said that since 2015 more than 3,500 refugees from Syria had been resettled in Scotland.

He reiterated the Scottish Government’s call for UK ministers to go further in their resettlement schemes.

Updating MSPs on Scotland’s intake of refugees, he said that before June 2021 nearly 400 had been resettled under the Afghan locally employed staff scheme since 2014.

Arrivals stepped up in late June and around 160 have arrived since then, with a further 70 expected in the coming weeks.

Mr Robertson praised the work of councils who had participated in the programme. He said: “Scottish local authorities have offered a further 40 properties, which are ready to be matched to 40 more families who recently arrived in the UK.”