The Zaev Government agreed to accept refugees from Afghanistan to curry favor with the NATO countries, says Serbian diplomat Ugljesa Zvekic. According to Zvekic, the decision to accept up to 2,000 refugees in Macedonia and similar numbers in Albania and Kosovo “has nothing to do with the capacity of these countries”.

There are interests involved and for them, they are more important than for more established countries who have been in NATO or the EU longer, Zvekic told Republika.

The former Serbian Ambassador to the UN adds that the groups of Afghans who are sent to the Balkans are small flows and will be resettled soon. He believes there is no potential for a large, unmanaged flow of refugees from Afghanistan after the Taliban take-over because “all who could leave, have already left”.