By Jesús Aguado
MADRID (Reuters) -Spain could temporarily host up to 4,000 Afghans, who had worked for the United States, at two military bases used by the U.S. military in southern Spain, the defense minister Margarita Robles said on Monday.
Robles said that under the agreement reached between Madrid and Washington the Afghans could stay in Spain for up to two weeks.
The agreement follows a deal reached over the weekend by U.S. President Joe Biden and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to host Afghans at the Rota (Cadiz) and Moron de la Frontera (Seville) air bases.
“The important thing is that Spain and the United States have reached this agreement, that this agreement is in place, that it is the result of good relations, and we will see over the coming days whether it is necessary for them to come to Spain or not,” Robles told journalists.
It was not clear when they could arrive in Spain because the defense minister also said there was a chance they “could go first to bases in Germany or Italy.”
Separately, a plane carrying 260 Afghan refugees and their families arrived on Monday at a Spain-based European Union hub at a military base outside Madrid in Torrejon de Ardoz.
The Madrid base is being used to host Afghan refugees who worked with the European Union and their families, who will then move to other EU countries.
More than 800 Afghan refugees have so far landed in Spain since last week.
Robles also said around 390 more were expected to land in Spain tomorrow.
(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; Editing by David Holmes and Jonathan Oatis)
