The Afghan people deserve to live in safety, security and dignity. We in the international community stand ready to assist them -EU
The European Union (E.U.) is scrambling to get the nationals of its Member States out of Afghanistan after the extremist group Taliban seized power in the country and the President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday, i.e., August 15, 2021.
Ashraf Ghani fled after Taliban advanced to Kabul, effectively taking control of power after almost 20 years since it was ousted by a United States (U.S.) led invasion. The Co-Founder of Taliban in Afghanistan – Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar has taken control of the Government.
A Joint Statement issued by E.U. and 40 other Nations read, “Given the deteriorating security situation, we support, are working to secure, and call on all parties to respect and facilitate, the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals and Afghans who wish to leave the country. Those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan bear responsibility – and accountability – for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order. Afghans and international citizens who wish to depart must be allowed to do so; roads, airports and border crossing must remain open, and calm must be maintained. The Afghan people deserve to live in safety, security and dignity. We in the international community stand ready to assist them.”
The High Representative of the E.U. for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – Josep Borrell Fontelles tweeted,
Human life needs to be protected and security and civil order restored. Afghans deserve to live in safety, security and dignity.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 16, 2021
International community supports and calls on all parties to facilitate safe departure of foreign nationals and Afghans who wish to leave the country. https://t.co/biHeBZqYTY
Concerned about its nationals, The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany – Heiko Maas said that Germany would be sending the Bundeswehr military aircraft overnight to help evacuate people. They will be first taken to a neighboring country and then to Germany.
Taking it to twitter, Heiko Maas tweeted (translated in English), “Today, the top priority must be the safety of our nationals & our employees. We in the crisis team decided that tonight the #Bundeswehr to #Kabul set out to assist with the evacuations.” (Original tweet in German:
Heute muss oberste Priorität die Sicherheit unserer Staatsangehörigen& unserer Mitarbeiter*innen haben. Wir haben im Krisenstab beschlossen, dass noch heute Nacht Flugzeuge der #Bundeswehr nach #Kabul aufbrechen werden, um bei den Evakuierungen zu unterstützen. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/7DL5okBhEp
— Heiko Maas 🇪🇺 (@HeikoMaas) August 15, 2021
He further tweeted (translated in English), “A core team from the embassy will remain on site in order to maintain the necessary capacity to act. We do everything we can to ensure that our nationals & former #Ortskräften to enable an exit.” (Original tweet in German:
Ein Kernteam der Botschaft wird vor Ort bleiben, um die notwendige Handlungsfähigkeit zu erhalten. Wir setzen alles daran, unseren Staatsangehörigen & ehem. #Ortskräften eine Ausreise zu ermöglichen. @akk @bw_einsatz (2/2)
— Heiko Maas 🇪🇺 (@HeikoMaas) August 15, 2021
Kabul Airport is protected by roughly 6,000 U.S. troops and is now the last way out for anyone wishing to leave Afghanistan. Germany is also in close contact with U.S. and other countries whose nationals are stuck in Afghanistan. Germany and U.S. have agreed to mutually support one another with evacuation measures in the coming days. France is also in touch with U.S. and is planning a quick evacuation of those stuck there.
The Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs – Jean-Yves Le Drian tweeted (translated in English), “#Afghanistan I called my counterpart tonight @SecBlinken to discuss the dramatic situation in Kabul. Full mobilization to allow the safe and rapid evacuation of all our nationals and people of Afghan civil society threatened for their commitment. (Original tweet in French:
#Afghanistan J’ai appelé ce soir mon homologue 🇺🇸 @SecBlinken pour évoquer la situation dramatique à Kaboul. Pleine mobilisation pour permettre l’évacuation sûre et rapide de tous nos ressortissants et des personnes de la société civile afghane menacées pour leur engagement.
— Jean-Yves Le Drian (@JY_LeDrian) August 15, 2021
Spain has announced to send 2 airplanes to Dubai for evacuating embassy staff, local Afghan workers who helped Madrid and their families, as well as E.U. personnel. Spain said it will support the E.U. and its foreign service for an orderly departure of European and local personnel. Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic has confirmed that a plane carrying 46 Czechs and local colleagues, as well as their families, landed in the country.
Separately, the Prime Minister of United Kingdom (U.K.) – Boris Johnson has said that no one wants Afghanistan to become a breeding ground for terror. He said that the situation continues to be extremely difficult and will get even more so. He also called-on the like-minded powers to work together and not recognize any new government without agreement.
Most importantly, it was the Former President of U.S. – Donald Trump who announced to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by August 2021. But Joe Biden’s decision to go ahead with the pull-out was a miscalculation. U.K. had also said it will withdraw all its troops from the war-torn Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. Afghanistan had previously warned that with NATO troops leaving the country, Taliban will try and control Afghanistan.
As per the latest updates, Taliban fighters have been patrolling the streets of Kabul as thousands of Afghans mobbed the city’s airport in an attempt to leave the country. Atleast 5 people have been killed at Kabul airport as hundreds of people tried to forcibly enter the plane. As a result, all commercial flights have been cancelled from Hamid Karzai International Airport.
