The CEO of the peer-to-peer lodging service Airbnb, Brian Chesky, announced on Tuesday that his company would provide free housing around the world for Afghan asylum seekers. According to a tweet, the company will pay for the refugees' accommodation, but the initiative was made possible by the generosity of homeowners.
“The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the US and elsewhere is one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time. We feel a responsibility to step up,” he tweeted.
Chesky urged those who are ready to provide their homes, or space in their homes, to contact Airbnb, and expressed his hope that this would inspire other business leaders to contribute in some form to the refugee and immigrant crisis.
The problem of Afghan refugees emerged after the Taliban, a religious fundamentalist militia, took control over the country, establishing its power in Kabul on 15 August. The resignations of official authorities prompted thousands to seek ways out of the country.
Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, operating under the control of the American military, has remained the only facility currently communicating freely with the outside world.
Approximately 28,000 Afghans have been evacuated by NATO countries since the Taliban took control of the country, according to the latest estimates, with US President Joe Biden stating that nearly 65,000 Afghan allies and their families still need to be rescued from the country.
*The Taliban is a terrorist organisation outlawed in Russia