BERN, 19 August 2021, (TON): Switzerland will not accept large groups of refugees arriving directly from Afghanistan, the government said, as a Swiss army unit arrived in Kabul to assess the situation.

It said that the neutral Alpine country has promised to evacuate local workers for a Swiss development office and their families, 230 people whom the Taliban insurgents could see as “western collaborators”.

But other applications for asylum will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, with humanitarian visas considered only for people facing an “immediate, concrete, serious and directly life-threatening threat”, the government said.

It added that there are different U.N. organisations trying to work out in an unclear situation if and how many people need long-term protection and if these people need to be resettled.

“Also, such an operation is currently not at all possible because the situation in Afghanistan is so unstable.”

A detachment from the Swiss army had reached Kabul, where it will work closely with U.S. forces to assess the situation.

The government was also in contact with 30 Swiss citizens still in Afghanistan who want to leave.