BRUSSELS — The emergency talks between European Union foreign ministers and Afghan officials will be held Tuesday. This is after the Taliban seized Kabul’s capital over the weekend.
Josep Borrell, EU’s chief of foreign policy, tweeted Monday that he had decided to call the extraordinary videoconference in order for ministers to make a “first assessment” of developments.
Borrell states that Afghanistan is at a crossroads. Both the security and well-being of its citizens as well as international safety are important considerations.
European countries were taken by surprise at how fast the takeover was happening. In recent days, they have been moving quickly to evacuate embassies from the war-torn nation. There is a small EU diplomatic mission in Kabul. It is one of Afghanistan’s largest aid donors.
GENEVA — The U.N. humanitarian assistance coordination agency said it and its partners are “staying and delivering people in need” despite the complex security situation in Afghanistan after a sweep by Taliban forces.
In a note, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) states that the humanitarian community, both the U.N. as well as non-governmental organizations, remains committed to supporting people in the country.
OCHA reported that thousands of internally displaced persons who were identified in recent weeks received aid including food, cash and health care.
OCHA stated that “even though the security environment can be complex, humanitarian agencies remain and deliver to people in greatest need.”
OCHA stated that 18.4 million Afghans needed humanitarian assistance before the upheaval. The plan’s $1.3 billion budget for aiding the country was only 38% of its total funding.
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BERLIN — Germany’s government has asked the Taliban to be restrained, protect Afghan civilians and ensure that they receive the humanitarian aid they need.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson also stated Monday that Germany was concerned about individual Afghans’ fates and the overall development of Afghanistan.
Steffen Seibert stated Monday that these are “bitter developments, when viewed against the backdrop of the long missions of the western state community.”
According to the government, it has also contacted all embassy staff, local and foreign, in an effort to get them out of Kabul. The country’s foreign ministry spoke out and warned that people should not attempt to travel alone to the airport due to the unstable and dynamic situation.
Christofer Burger said Monday to reporters that the Embassy is calling and emailing all those on evacuation lists, and providing them with personal instructions.
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COPENHAGEN (Danemark) – Staff from the Finnish Embassy in Kabul fled to a neighbouring country.
Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish daily, reported Monday that the country’s armed forces participated in the evacuation. According to newspaper sources, staff flew out on an American aircraft.
Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s Prime Minister, stated that Danes are “working round the clock.” We are currently evacuating,” and added that the work was completed “in extremely difficult circumstances.”
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MOSCOW — Moscow will determine whether or not to recognize the new Taliban government on the basis of its conduct, the Kremlin envoy for Afghanistan stated in an interview Monday.
Zamir Kabulov stated to the Ekho Moskvy radio that no one was going to rush the decision. Kabulov stated that recognition or non-recognition would depend on the conduct and decisions of the new authorities.
In 2003, Russia declared the Taliban terrorist organization. However, it has hosted several rounds in Afghanistan with the Taliban, the most recent being in March. Moscow, which fought 10 years of war in Afghanistan and was finally defeated by Soviet troops in 1989, has been a mediator in Afghanistan, reaching out to rival Afghan factions while it jockeys with the U.S. to gain influence.
Kabulov stated Monday that the Taliban were “deservedly” declared terrorist groups in Russia 20 years ago. The Taliban have learned this lesson well. Kabulov stated that if they don’t learn it fully, they will face serious difficulties in relations with Russia and the rest of the global community.
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BRATISLAVA (Slovenia) – Slovakia’s Prime Minster Eduard Heger has announced that his country will grant asylum to 10 Afghan nationals, who have a long history of cooperation with the European Union member countries in recent years.
Heger said that his country will provide a military aircraft to transport them to Slovakia with other Slovak citizens who have requested it.
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BEIJING — China said its embassy in Kabul is still open and expressed its willingness to help its reconstruction.
Hua Chunying, spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, did not respond explicitly to a question about whether Beijing would recognize Taliban as the new government. However, he said that China would honor the decision of the Afghan people.
She noted that the Taliban had pledged to negotiate an inclusive Islamic government. They also promised to protect Afghans from foreign forces. China hopes this would ensure a smooth transition in Afghanistan, she said.
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LONDON — Boris Johnson, a leading British lawmaker, has called the chaos at Kabul’s airport “Saigon 2.0” and compared it to the 1975 U.S. evacuation.
Tobias Ellwood is a former British Army captain and defense minister. The images of chaos at Kabul’s airport Monday echoed the evacuation attempt to evacuate the capital of South Vietnam after North Vietnamese troops arrived.
The U.S. had to evacuate thousands of its soldiers and nationals as well as civilians from South Vietnam who had aided during the war’s advance by the North Vietnamese. The evacuation of civilians from the U.S. Embassy’s roof was one of the most dramatic scenes.
Ellwood stated, “If this are not Saigon 2.0,” Is this the way we thought we’d leave Afghanistan? “I reiterate my request for a U.K. investigation.”
The announcement by U.S. President Joe Biden earlier this year of the timeline for U.S. withdrawal form Afghanistan prompted the NATO alliance, which includes the U.K. to announce their departures two decades after first arriving in Afghanistan.
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Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian President, called Monday for reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Raisi was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying that Iran would support efforts to restore stability and security in Afghanistan. He described Iran as a “brother and neighboring country” to Afghanistan. He described America’s rapid withdrawal as a “military fail” and said that it should be “turned into an opportunity to restore life, security, and stable peace.”
Iran has nearly 600 miles of border with Afghanistan. It is home to more than 800,000 Afghan refugees and over two million undocumented Afghans. After Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the influx began.
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MOSCOW — Russia will remove some of its Kabul embassy staff “in order to not create too large a presence,” said the Kremlin envoy for Afghanistan.
According to Zamir Kabulov, some 100 Russian diplomat staff will be “placed on leave or evacuated in another fashion” to avoid creating too much presence. Kabulov also stated that Dmitry Zhirnov, the Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, will meet with a Taliban representative Tuesday to discuss security. He added that the Taliban are already protecting the perimeter of the embassy.
Kabulov said that the Taliban’s quick takeover of Kabul was “somewhat surprising.” He also stated that Russia was “too optimistic” in its assessment of the quality and capabilities of NATO-trained armed forces.
Kabulov stated that those forces “lost everything at the first shot.”
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MOSCOW — Uzbek Defense Minister confirmed Sunday that an Afghan military aircraft crashed in Uzbekistan, but did not reveal details.
Bakhrom Zulfikarov, the Ministry’s spokesperson, told Russia’s State News Agency Tass Monday that the plane crashed in Surkhandarya in southeastern Uzbekistan. He said that while details are being investigated, more information will be released later.
Uzbek media reported Sunday evening that the plane crashed in the southeast part of the country, not far from Afghanistan’s border. One person was injured at least.
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CANBERRA (Australia) — Australia has sent three transport and air to-air refueling aircrafts with 250 military personnel, in order to assist more than 130 Australians who have been displaced from Afghanistan. Officials said Monday.
Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister, stated in a statement that Australia is working to evacuate unspecified numbers of refugees.
As the U.S., other countries and others scramble to evacuate diplomats from Kabul and Afghan employees and their families, this support is essential. The Taliban overthrew the Western-backed government a day before.
The Australian Defense Department stated that an Airbus A330 aircraft modified for aerial refueling will support U.S.-led military operations in Afghanistan. The statement also stated that two C-17A Globemaster heavy-transport aircraft C-17A Globemaster would be sent to the Middle East.
Australia closed its Kabul Embassy in May and pulled the last of its troops out of Afghanistan in June.
Since 2001, more than 39,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan. 41 of these soldiers died.
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LISBON (Portugal) – Portugal’s defense Minister says that his country is ready to accept 243 Afghans and their families who served with Portuguese forces in the country.
Joao Gomes, Defense Minister, stated that NATO coordinates the evacuation of Afghans as Portugal does not have the military capability to do so.
Late Sunday, he told RTP that he doesn’t know of any Portuguese citizens who live in Afghanistan.
Portugal had a small contingent of less than 200 troops stationed in Kabul as part of its NATO mission. They were the last to leave at May’s end.
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STOCKHOLM — Monday’s statement by Ann Linde, Swedish Foreign Minister, stated that 19 employees of the embassy were evacuated from Kabul to Doha in Qatar. They will then fly to Sweden.
Norway and Denmark stated earlier Monday that most of their embassy staff had left Afghanistan.
Ine Eriksen Soereide, Norway’s Foreign Minister, stated that it was done overnight for the good of Norwegians.
Trine Bramsen, Denmark’s Defense Minister, told Danish broadcaster DR the majority of Danish diplomats were evacuated but that there are still Danes and other people in the country to be evacuated.
He said that there are challenges in landing at Kabul’s chaotic airport. Bramsen said that it is not an easy task to transport people to the airport.
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LONDON — British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said that the government plans to fly 1,500 additional Afghans out of London in the coming days.
He said that the first British-bound flight had landed in the U.K. Monday as other countries tried to evacuate diplomats, Afghan workers and their families from Kabul’s chaotic airport.
Wallace expressed hope that the government would be able evacuate approximately 1,000 people per day, including Afghan nationals who had helped British citizens.
According to him, the BBC is working to remove bureaucratic obstacles to allow people who have passed screenings to fly to the U.K.
He stated that the British government sent over 600 troops to Kabul this weekend to secure the airport and “to efficiently process, manage, and escort people onto flights to get them out Afghanistan.”
Wallace stated that one of his “greatest regrets” about the rapid collapse of the Afghan government was the fact that the timeline to expel Afghans and British citizens from Afghanistan by August 31 had to be cut.
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ISLAMABAD — A Pakistani state-run airline claims it has stopped all flights to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, due to “uncertain security conditions”.
Abdullah Hafeez, a spokesperson for Pakistan International Airlines, stated Monday that the airline decided to protect the passengers and crew after consulting with the Afghan civil aviation authorities.
As embassies tried to evacuate Afghan personnel through the airport, he spoke. After a devastating attack on Afghanistan, Taliban militants overthrew two decades worth of Western-backed government.
Social media videos showed chaos at Kabul International Airport overnight. There was occasional gunfire and panicked Afghans running on the tarmac. Civil aviation authorities had sent advisories announcing that the “civilian” side of the airport was “closed until further notice” by morning.
Flight-tracking data indicated that there were no commercial flights in the immediate vicinity of the country Monday morning.
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MILAN – Italy has evacuated 70 Afghan embassy staff from Kabul. The plane was due to arrive in Rome Monday. The video was taken at Kabul’s international Airport and released by the Italian Defense Ministry. It shows people climbing up a mobile staircase in darkness to board the plane.
It is part of Italy’s Operation Aquila Omnia (Eagle Ready for Anything), which aims to evacuate diplomatic staff, Afghan citizens, Afghan employees, and their families quickly.
Before the pullout, Italy had one the largest contingents of troops in Afghanistan.
Francesca Mannocchi (an Italian journalist) was present on the plane and said that it carried 20 Afghan Embassy employees and their families. This included women and children. 228 Afghanis, along with their families, were already transferred to Italy before the Taliban advance.
Officials refused to provide a number, but Italian media reported that 390 Afghan citizens were still at large and waiting for evacuation.
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Prague has received the first Czech evacuation flight. It took off from Kabul’s international Airport and landed in Prague.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis stated that 46 people were aboard Monday’s flight.
These included Czech nationals, Afghan staffers at Czech embassy, and Afghan interpreters who assisted the Czech Armed Forces during NATO missions with their families.
Babis did not immediately give more information. It is not known how many of these flights will be made.
Jan Hamacek, Czech Interior Minister, tweeted that the Czech flight was able to take off despite the dire situation at Kabul airport.
Local media reported that thousands of people gathered at Kabul’s airport to depart the country.
In a joint statement, the U.S. Pentagon & State Department stated that the American military would assume control of the airport’s air-traffic control.
