YORK is preparing to welcome a ‘small number’ of refugee families from Afghanistan.

It is 'now or never to save innocent people from the terror of the Taliban' said Cllr Daryl Smalley, the city council’s executive member for culture, leisure and communities, in a statement released today.

"York has a proud history of providing sanctuary to those in need. We will show that same leadership and compassion now," Cllr Smalley said.

“We are already working with Migration Yorkshire and partners to secure accommodation for a small number of Afghan refugee families who have previously supported the British Armed Forces whilst in Afghanistan. As a City of Sanctuary, we are coordinating efforts to ensure they are welcomed into safe accommodation as quickly as possible.”

Welcoming the Government’s announced that the UK will take up to 20,000 people fleeing Afghanistan, Cllr Smalley added: “This commitment must be backed up with proper funding for local authorities to house and support refugees without placing more strain on already overstretched budgets.”

The priority, Cllr Smalley said, must be to bring those most at risk to safety through an emergency Women and Girls Resettlement Scheme.

In 2016 York, which is designated a ‘City of sanctuary’, welcomed refugees from fighting in Syria.

More than 20 years ago, meanwhile, in 1999, the city also hosted Kosovo Albanian refugees fleeing the Balkan war.

It is unclear at this stage how many Afghan families York will take in, or where they will be housed.

In a letter copied to the council and both the city’s MPs, human rights activist and Ph.D student Willam Gomes called on the city to take in ‘at least 100 families’.

Trustees of the 'York: City of Sanctuary’ organisation meanwhile also called on the city to do ‘whatever it can to support anyone arriving from Afghanistan to settle here and feel safe’.

A spokesperson for the organisation added: “We need to protect people who are on the ground in Afghanistan and offer them a safe route out where possible. Equally, for Afghani refugees and asylum seekers waiting for a decision here in the UK, the UK Government needs to declare an immediate right to remain and halt any returns to Afghanistan.”

York Central MP Rachael Maskell said there needed to be a ‘national strategy’ to support cash-strapped local authorities like York, so that they could welcome refugee families.

York Outer MP Julian Sturdy said: “York must of course play its full part in the urgent national effort to offer sanctuary to Afghans who have assisted our armed forces and officials. We have a clear duty to protect those who protected us, and also to help those at clear risk from the new regime, such as Afghan female judges and similar figures.

"So far, I am encouraged by the government’s pledge to offer refuge to 20,000 affected Afghans. I will look to ensure our city makes the appropriate contribution to this work, which must be carefully focused on those in most need.”

In further developments, Boris Johnson told MPs today that the almost 460 British servicemen who had lost their live in Afghanistan had not died in vain.

Speaking in Parliament during a debate on the crisis in the country, the Prime Minister said: "Even amid the heart-wrenching scenes we see today, I believe they should be proud of their achievements and we should be deeply proud of them.

"They gave their all for our safety and we owe it to them to give our all to prevent Afghanistan from once again becoming a breeding ground for terrorism."

But Mr Johnson faced fierce criticism from fellow MPs, including senior Tories, as MPs returned to Westminster for an emergency debate on the crisis.

In a packed Commons chamber, the Prime Minister faced cries of disbelief when he denied the Government had been unprepared for the lightning takeover by the Taliban which saw the Western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani collapse in just days.

In a series of highly charged interventions, he was accused by senior Conservatives of presiding over an 'operational and strategic blunder' which would weaken the West in the eyes of its adversaries.

Former prime minister Theresa May said it was 'a major setback for British foreign policy' nearly 20 years after UK forces first entered the country in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks on the US.

And Tory Tom Tugendhat - who served as an Army officer in Afghanistan - said the UK and its Western allies had received a ‘very harsh lesson’.

"This doesn't need to be defeat but at the moment it damn well feels like it," he said.