FILE PHOTO: An Afghan boy looks on as he leaves Incheon International Airport after arriving in South Korea with other Afghan evacuees who supported the South Korean government’s activities in Afghanistan, in Incheon, South Korea, August 26, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji
August 26, 2021
(Reuters) – The United States and allies are hurrying to evacuate as many people from Afghanistan as possible before an Aug. 31 deadline amid growing security fears at Kabul airport.
The United States and coalition partners have evacuated about 95,700 people since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul, the White House said on Thursday.
Here are some more details of the evacuation effort by country:
UNITED STATES
The U.S. military will continue evacuating people from Kabul airport until Aug. 31 if needed, but will prioritize the removal of U.S. troops and military equipment on the last couple of days, the Pentagon has said.
Washington has so far evacuated 4,500 U.S. citizens and their families, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
There are still about 1,500 U.S. citizens in Afghanistan and the U.S. government is working to either contact them or has already given them instructions on how to get to Kabul airport, Blinken said.
BRITAIN
Britain has declined to specify when its last evacuation flight would leave, beyond saying that British troops would have to have left ahead of the last U.S. flights out on Aug. 31. According to armed forces minister James Heappey on Thursday, 12,279 people have been brought out of Afghanistan by Britain. Heappey said about 400 people remained in country.
GERMANY
Germany has said it will continue evacuation flights as long as possible. By early on Thursday, the German military had evacuated 5,193 people on 34 flights.
The ministry said on Wednesday it estimated more than 200 German citizens remained in Kabul. Some 540 Germans had already been evacuated.
Overall, Germany had said it had identified 10,000 people who needed to be evacuated, including Afghan local staff, journalists and human rights activists.
FRANCE
France expects to complete its evacuation flights from Kabul on Friday evening, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said. The French foreign ministry said that, as of Wednesday evening, more than 100 French nationals and more than 2,000 Afghans had reached French soil after being evacuated from Kabul airport.
QATAR
Qatar said on Thursday it has so far helped evacuate more than 40,000 people to Doha and “evacuation efforts will continue in the coming days in consultation with international partners”.
BELGIUM
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Thursday Belgium ended its evacuation operations after U.S. sources informed the government of an imminent suicide bomb attack around Kabul airport.
A little over 1,400 people were evacuated by Belgium from Kabul, with the last flight arriving at Islamabad on Wednesday night, he said.
CANADA
Canadian forces in Kabul ended evacuation efforts for their citizens and Afghans earlier on Thursday, ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline, acting chief of the defence staff General Wayne Eyre said.
He said Canada had evacuated or facilitated the evacuation of around 3,700 Canadian and Afghan citizens.
TURKEY
Turkey has evacuated at least 1,400 people from Afghanistan, including around 1,000 Turkish citizens, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier this week. Turkey also began to evacuate its troops in Afghanistan, with the first flight due to arrive in Ankara on Thursday.
POLAND
Poland has evacuated about 900 people from Afghanistan, including about 300 women and 300 children, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday.
Poland’s final evacuation flight was landing in Warsaw at around 0830 GMT on Thursday, he said.
INDIA
India has airlifted 565 people from Afghanistan, most of them Indian embassy personnel and citizens living there but also dozens of Afghans including Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, a government official said on condition of anonymity. There was no decision yet on when they planned to stop the flights, he said.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
The UAE said on Thursday it has helped evacuate 36,500 people to date, including 8,500 coming to the UAE via its national carriers or airports.
HUNGARY
Hungary has ended evacuations in Afghanistan after airlifting 540 people, including Hungarian citizens and Afghans and their families who worked for Hungarian forces previously, the Hungarian Defence Minister Tibor Benko said on Thursday.
DENMARK
Denmark made its last evacuation flight out of Kabul on Wednesday with the remaining diplomatic staff and military personnel, according to its defence ministry.
Denmark has airlifted around 1,000 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 14, including diplomatic staff, their families, former interpreters, Danish citizens as well as people from allied countries, the ministry said.
AUSTRIA
Austria is not operating its own flights and is relying on Germany and other countries to help with its evacuation. So far 89 people with Austrian citizenship or residency have been airlifted out, while another two to three dozen people are still in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told national broadcaster ORF on Wednesday.
The number is changing constantly as new people are getting in touch with the Austrian authorities “almost daily”, Schallenberg said.
SWITZERLAND
Switzerland, which is relying on Germany and the United States to help with its evacuation efforts via Tashkent, has got 292 people out of Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said on Tuesday. There were still 15 Swiss citizens in Afghanistan, but no more Swiss evacuation flights were planned, he said.
(Compiled by Reuters staff,; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Alex Richardson)
Source: One America News Network
