Prime Minister Edi Rama spoke on BBC radio with journalist Nuala McGovern while in Slovenia.

In the meantime, during the Kosovo war we opened the doors to shelter half a million refugees fleeing the ethnic cleansing masterminded by Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade. So we are well- acquainted with all sides of tyranny either when left in the hands of brutal regime or seeking to build a new life as a refugee in other countries. Both experiences taught us that it is not the danger that creates the fear but the fear that creates the danger from people coming to find shelter while escaping death.

BBC: Do you believe your sentiment is shared by most Albanians because we have seen borders closed to Afghan refugees in a number of countries?

Edi Rama: It is really heartbreaking, because as a matter of fact only a few weeks ago all these countries as NATO members were the main source of support for the people of Afghanistan, so receding like shadows alongside the ideals, principles and promises of freedom that were made over two decades is heartbreaking and the world’s most powerful military alliance built to uphold those ideals becoming a spineless entity in the eyes of the Afghan people and millions of people everywhere who crave to live in free, just, democratic societies, it is really not what should happen, is really what should be.
BBC: … Do you believe they are a spineless entity?

Edi Rama: No, I am saying this is how it looks like, unfortunately for the time being and how it can affect the image of our part of the world that millions of people, I do not know, hundreds of millions of people see it as their own future destiny hoping to have the same in their countries, where they crave for justice, they crave for freedom. In the meantime, to answer your question, first of all I am very proud that the majority of Albanians feel the same and would do the same. But, in the meantime I think these are moments when goals are more important than the polls in principle.

BBC: …Goals more than polls. I am looking at some photographs here , PM, that I just want to talk my radio listeners through, people from Afghanistan coming down those stairs of Qatar Lines being met on the tarmac by the ambassador. There is a picnic that is taking place, You’re playing basketball think with some of the children arrived . It is incredibly moving but how long do you think the people who have been evacuated will stay in Albania? Do you expect them to integrate into Albanian society or is this a stop before they make their next move elsewhere?

Edi Rama: Listen, first of all we were approached by several entities, foundations, civil society organizations from across the ocean in the US, including the “Yada Hakim” foundation, we answered immediately “yes”. We also received a request from US govt. and we said “yes.” The rationale of all this is that these people are potentially eligible to get a visa and go to the US, which theoretically makes the stay here temporary. But first of all, I think this will take time because with so many people that the US aircraft have moved out and they have to go through processing in different parts of Europe and elsewhere. Secondly whatever it will take, we will be here for them. We cannot forget our history. We cannot disrespect our code of honor, which is something that has been passed down for a long time and made Albania the only country in Europe with more Jews after World War Two than before its outbreak. Just because no Jew was turned over and there were Albanians who sacrificed their lives to save them. I strongly believe, we owe it to our children. Our children should inherit all this and we have to honor this heritage and they have to honor it when time comes.

BBC: You mentioned that “Yalda Hakim” foundation. My radio listeners probably know that Yalda is one of our foreign correspondents who anchors the ‘Impact with Yalda Hakim” on BBC World News. She is an Afghan herself and has done a lot of philanthropy within her country as well, but I am curious about now PM. We’re hearing from the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that this opens a new chapter of engagement with Afghanistan and that chapter has closed on that part of the war with Afghanistan. Taliban are in control. Do you believe the promises that the Taliban are putting forward that they will respect girls and women’s rights as they say within the limits of Islamic law?

Edi Rama: For the sake of the people that did not have the luck to escape and for 20 years on end experienced something different that what the Taliban are offering, I would very much wished that this could be true. But having lived in a very brutal and similar regime, although not Islamic but purely atheist, that banned God from our lives and blew up with dynamite more than 2, 000 churches and Roman chapels and monuments, monasteries and mosques, I can’t fool myself and believe it. You know it does not match with the world we believe in, the world we live in and the world we represent and of course with the world that the Afghan citizens that trusted us, that followed us, that worked for us were dreaming about. I would love this could be true but unfortunately I cannot. I just cannot believe it.

BBC: There is scepticism there, very much we have heard people here in this room at the Center for Afghanistan and Central Asia in West London people that are coming here desperately trying to find out information, trying to figure out what avenues may be open to them. A lot of them are hoping that their loved ones will come from Afghanistan and will be able to be repatriated here . Many think within the coming weeks or months but we are hearing instead of course it could take longer than that. I mean do you believe that that who want to leave will be able to leave in the coming weeks even through the Taliban control the airport?

Edi Rama: It’s all to be seen, but again history can help in these cases. You don’t really need to have a crystal ball because suffice it to look back on history of brutal totalitarian and totally ideological regimes to understand that for them everyone that is different from them is a traitor that should be killed , thrown in jail, be tortured and be persecuted for entire life
BBC: Edi Rama is PM of Albania and they have opened the doors to a number of Afghan refugees with open arms.
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