Airbnb, a San Francisco-based company that operates an online marketplace for lodging, primarily homestays for vacation rentals.  has announced it would provide free accommodation to 20,000 displaced Afghan refugees throughout the world to help them settle. Announcing on Twitter, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wrote the issue of the resettlement of the Afghan refugees posed “one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time”.

Thousands of people are fleeing Afghanistan after the hardline Islamist militia Taliban took control of the nation by ousting the US-backed government.

 “The displacement and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the US and elsewhere are one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time. We feel a responsibility to step up,’ said Cheski.

He also encouraged all those in financial capability “to do the same”.

Since 2012, Airbnb.org, an independent nonprofit that collaborates with Airbnb for this reason, claims to have assisted 75,000 individuals in finding somewhere to stay during times of crisis, according to Khaama Press.

Thousands of Afghans have fled the Taliban, adding to the millions of countrymates who have been domestically or internationally displaced.

According to the United Nations, over 3.5 million Afghans are internally displaced. 270,000 people have been displaced since January, and 2.6 million people are refugees in other countries.

The Afghanistan crisis has forced governments throughout the world to gear up for a massive influx of asylum seekers, intensifying debates in some wealthy countries about the next step.

Many nations, notably North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies who were involved in Afghanistan, have committed to accept refugees.

The situation is particularly grave in Europe, which is yet to come to terms with the divisions and political upheavals sparked by the flood of Syrian and Libyan refugees.

Since the Taliban retook Afghanistan, Greece has completed the construction of a wall along part of its border with Turkey to prevent migrants from crossing by land into the European Union.

(SAM)