French and German military planes carried out evacuation flights from Kabul

A French military plane carried out its first evacuation of people from Kabul airport this morning in what is intended to be an “air bridge” to keep away from the country the French still present and the Afghan civilians who collaborated with its army between 2001 and 2014.

“We have laid the foundations for an airlift between Kabul and Abu Dhabi”French Defense Minister Florence Parly said that in a radio interview RTL She was convinced that after this first flight, new rotations could be organized in the coming days.

France sent two military planes to its base in the United Arab Emirates to organize the repatriation of “several dozen” French people who remained in Afghanistan and Afghans who worked for its armed forces during the international mission in this country., until the end of 2014.

Parly did not want to give an estimate of the number of Afghans who could arrive in France by this route, judging it premature, but he tried to stress that his country did not wait until the last minute, and that these In recent years there have already been “several hundred” who have made use of this possibility.

From the president, Emmanuel Macron commissioned in 2018 the assessment of the situation of some of these former collaborators of his soldiers (such as interpreters, drivers or cooks) and their families, more than 200 people arrived in France.

The minister insisted that the problem now in getting them out of the country is the difficulty they have in getting to Kabul airport, since the Taliban have established controls at some accesses and some are not even not in the Afghan capital.

He also noted that some of them had not wished to leave Afghanistan in recent years, although they had been offered the opportunity to welcome them in France.

In a speech Monday night, Macron stressed that his “absolute urgency” with the fall of almost all of Afghanistan to the hands of the Taliban is to expel from the country the remaining French and those who worked for the French army.

The French president also announced an initiative with Germany and other European countries to prevent the “irregular migratory flows” of Afghans which are likely to take place due to the destabilization of the country.

He justified it because “Europe alone cannot bear the consequences of the current situation”.

As for Germany, the German army’s first A400M military transport plane managed to land at Kabul airport last night and evacuate a first small group of people., confirmed today the chief of the German defense, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

“We only had very little time and that’s why we only took those who were really there. And yesterday, they could not be more numerous at the airport because of the chaotic situation ”, the minister said in statements on the morning broadcast of public television ARD.

According to media reports, the plane only managed to evacuate seven people, although the minister did not confirm the figure.

“We have a very confusing, dangerous and complex situation at the airport, mainly due to the crowds. Yesterday, we managed, in a really dangerous landing, to land our aircraft ”, describe.

He added that Germany sent soldiers to Afghanistan to create the conditions for people to evacuate “effectively have the possibility of reaching the airport” and clarified that “yesterday was the main task”.

He said evacuation preparations were made overnight and that the second German plane is awaiting clearance from the United States to leave for Kabul.

Kramp-Karrenbauer spoke of two possible scenarios, the first, whereby the airport could only be kept open for a short time, for which Germany now has “robust forces in situ” to continue to strengthen.

The second scenario – the one everyone wants with the Americans, he said – is that it is possible to actually organize an air corridor in the coming days, for which Germany has made 600 troops available. .

The important thing now is to organize things in such a way that German citizens, local employees and people at risk can be evacuated and also help other nations in this task.

“The mission of the German army is clear: get as many people out as possible while it is still possible”he said, while specifying that the whole world, and not just Germany, “was surprised on Friday by the dynamics of events” with the entry of the Taliban into Kabul.

The Minister expressed her dissatisfaction with the process of hasty withdrawal of NATO and the United States from Afghanistan and expressed her conviction that there will be many things, also within the Atlantic Alliance, which will have to be be reviewed.

“But then we’ll also question our willingness to shoulder the consequences at the time and our willingness to take action that we have so far left to the Americans.”he warned.

(With information from EFE)

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