Photo/Illutration Afghan employees of the Japanese Embassy in Kabul arrive at Narita Airport outside Tokyo in October 2021. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The government is moving to ensure that dozens of Afghan children who fled Afghanistan with their families will at least get schooling in Japan as prospects remain dim for their early return home, sources said.

In total, around 500 Afghans arrived in Japan from last September onward following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and collapse of the government in Kabul in August.

“We will look for schools that will accept them even if their command of Japanese is limited,” said an official with the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Dozens of the children are of elementary and junior high school age.

The ministry plans to start their schooling in spring.

Tokyo planned to rescue Afghans who worked for the Japanese Embassy and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, a government-affiliated aid organization, and their families before the Aug. 31 deadline for the U.S. military’s withdrawal.

But it was forced to abandon the rescue operation after a deadly explosion rocked the area around Kabul airport on Aug. 26, which threw the capital into chaos.

Japanese government officials held talks with Taliban representatives and the Qatar government, with which Japan has friendly ties, to get the Afghans out safely.

Many of them left Afghanistan on a flight chartered by the Qatar government.

A majority of the Afghans are hoping to return to their old jobs or reached the border on their own, according to Japanese officials.

But it remains anyone’s guess when the Japanese Embassy and the local office of the JICA will reopen as the situation in Afghanistan is still unstable.

The Afghan employees and their family members are staying in government-related facilities, and can remain for as long as they need, according to Japanese officials.

During the week, the employees telework by compiling reports and translating documents.

Around 140 Afghans who have ties to Japan are still stuck in Afghanistan.

Efforts to get them out are proving time-consuming due to the difficulties in getting Taliban officials to issue visas for them expediently, Japanese authorities said.

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