In a statement sent today to Lusa news agency, the Alentejo academy revealed that, "in view of the current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan", a total of "10 positions for Afghan workers" will be made available at the institution. Contacted by Lusa, a source from the UÉ explained that these jobs will be "in various areas within the university", depending "on the knowledge that the workers have".

At the same time, the University of Évora will “allow access, at an exceptional admission stage, provided that it is agreed with the tutelage, to Afghan students who intend to pursue higher education studies in Portugal”. “It is impossible for us to remain indifferent to the suffering of the Afghan people and, very specifically, of Afghan women”, said the Dean of the UE, Ana Costa Freitas, justifying this initiative. For the dean, “the protection of Human Rights, such as the Right to Education, must be safeguarded”. “And, as the head of a higher education institution whose mission is to produce and transmit knowledge, I cannot help but feel that we have, in some way, and within our possibilities, to actively contribute”, she argued.

This is “an initiative aligned with the institution's values”, namely “the respect for human dignity and the absence of social, ethnic or confessional discrimination”. It is also an initiative aligned with other institutions, including the Regional Directorate of Culture of Alentejo, "in order to find accommodation for a welcoming phase" of these Afghans, he said.

The University of Évora also said that it has already communicated its availability to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES), which oversees the institution. The initiative “is currently being articulated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)”, and “practical issues related to the [respective] political, institutional and legal framework will be known shortly”.

In 2015, the UÉ also recalled, in the context of the crisis in Syria, a group of students from that country was welcomed into the Alentejo academy. “We supported, in total, at national level, through the Global Platform for Assistance to Syrian Students, created by Jorge Sampaio in 2013, about 30 Syrian university students who continued their studies” in Portuguese higher education institutions, recalled the academy .

The Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15, concluding an offensive that began in May, when the withdrawal of US military forces and NATO began. International forces have been in the country since 2001, as part of the offensive led by the United States against the extremist regime (1996-2001), which welcomed in its territory the leader of al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, mainly responsible for the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. The seizure of the capital ends a 20-year foreign military presence in Afghanistan by the United States and its NATO allies, including Portugal.