Fear of refugees must not shape the response to Afghanistan’s crisis | Daniel Trilling

Western leaders are panicking about a new surge in migration. But we can - and should - help those fleeing the Taliban

Two defining images of 2021 depict people fleeing. One is the sight of people desperately chasing after a US air force jet along the runway at Kabul airport, as the west's 20-year occupation of Afghanistan came to an end. The other is of passengers, evacuated from a forest fire on the Greek island of Evia, watching from the deck of a ferry as the skyline is etched in apocalyptic red.

In both cases they tell us about the speed at which people have to abandon everything when disaster strikes - there is rarely time for an orderly queue, for correct papers and possessions, when you are forced to flee - and about the power held by those who control the routes to safety.