Hargeisa (SD) – AFP is reporting that Somaliland had “(in) principle” accepted hosting Afghanistan refugees, a foreign ministry official said Friday.

Since Taliban took control of Afghanistan, United States have been evacuating large numbers of refugees from that country. The United States has had difficulty in finding a host country for the refugees before settling them in US.

A spokesman for Somaliland’s foreign ministry told AFP that Hargeisa had entered into discussions with US officials about temporarily hosting Afghan refugees.

“We (in) principle agree… to host Afghan refugees for the transit period,” the official said, adding that the agreement was still at a preliminary stage, with technicalities still to be worked out and no date set for their arrival.

AFP did not provide further details on the talks between Somaliland and the United States regarding the arrangement.

It is not known when the first Afghan refugees will arrive in Somaliland.

Somaliland united with Somalia after gaining independence from Britain in 1960, and regained it’s independence after a long civil war in 1991.