Afghans in Indonesia protest Taliban, demand resettlement

By NINIEK KARMINI and TATAN SYUFLANA
Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Hundreds of Afghan refugees living in Indonesia held a rally decrying the Taliban’s takeover of their country and calling for resettlement outside Indonesia. Most are members of Afghanistan’s Hazara ethnic minority, and they say they’re extremely worried about their families back home. Tuesday’s protest in Jakarta outside the U.N. refugee agency also called for speeding up the process of resettling them in third countries. Indonesia is not a signatory to the U.N. Refugee Convention of 1951, and the government doesn’t allow asylum seekers to work or have access to schools and public hospitals. Many asylum seekers fled to Indonesia as a jumping-off point to reach Australia by boat.