DFA wants Afghanistan security assessed before OFW pullout

Following the US government’s order to pull out foreign workers in Afghanistan whose countries are enforcing a deployment ban, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has again recommended the creation of a committee to assess the security situation there. In a release, the DFA said it has asked President Benigno Aquino III to convene a “High-Level Committee" in response to the US Central Command (CENTCOM) memorandum dated September 17. In its memo, the US CENTCOM ordered its contractors to remove third-country nationals, including Filipinos, from US military and other facilities in Afghanistan, in cases where the laws of these third countries prohibit their citizens from working there. (See: US orders pullout of Pinoy workers in Afghanistan) “(The committee) will be mandated to assess the security situation in Afghanistan, the implications of the CENTCOM order, and make recommendations to ensure the safety and welfare of Filipino workers currently employed by the US government or their sub-contractors in Afghanistan," the DFA release stated. The DFA likewise recommended that the committee be headed by the Executive Secretary, with the Foreign Affairs and Labor secretaries as members. According to the DFA, the Philippines has an existing travel and deployment ban on Afghanistan. The ban has been in effect since 2005 due to the unstable security situation in that country, which has been wracked by a succession of invasions, insurgencies, and changes of regime. “Despite the total ban, Filipino workers still continue to seek employment in Afghanistan and it is estimated that there are currently 2,500 to 4,000 OFWs in that war-torn nation," the release added. A similar high-level committee was also created over a month ago to assess the security situation in Iraq, following an earlier CENTCOM memorandum also ordering the pullout of foreign workers from Iraq. (See: US orders pullout of Filipino workers in Iraq) The committee later decided that Filipino workers already in Iraq and deployed in US military facilities may continue working there until they finish their contracts, even as the total ban on the deployment of workers in the country continues in light of the volatile situation there. (See: OFWs in US bases in Iraq may stay, but ban remains – DFA)—JV, GMANews.TV