Analyst: Estonia Lacked 'Courage, Honor' to Protect Afghan Interpreter
The decision on Wednesday to refuse asylum to an Afghan who helped the Estonian military has been called a "betrayal" by critics, while the government has insisted that the move was not politically motivated.
Ahto Lobjakas of the Foreign Policy Institute, a think-tank, called the decision extremely unfortunate, adding that Estonia can only hope that the interpreter known as Omar won't be endangered. The danger to those cooperating with NATO has for long been a real one, and there have been cases of interpreters being killed, Lobjakas said.
"Estonia did not have the courage or honor," Lobjakas told Delfi.
"The fact that Estonia's official 'individual risk analysis' overlaps with President Hamid Karzai's own assessment indicates in itself that it is either not adequate or cynically based on other considerations," Lobjakas said, referring to a statement made by the Afghan president during his first visit to Estonia earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip maintained that the decision was not a political one, uudised.err.ee reported.
"States do not comment on decisions that relate to specific individuals," Ansip said at a press conference on Thursday. "[Comments] will not be given publicly nor to those whom they concern."
"Visa and asylum applications are processed on a case-by-case basis and the presumption must be that a person's life is in danger. Satisfying a given application is a humane act, not a political decision," he said.