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The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry (MFA) announced on Thursday that two Lithuanian nationals had left Afghanistan and arrived in safe states after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan.
Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis declared that it was possible to deport Lithuanians thanks to diplomatic and other services from Germany, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
However, there are still about 100 translators and their families in Afghanistan who have assisted Lithuanian soldiers. They, like thousands of others, are waiting for help.
Promise to evacuate everyone
A second plane carrying people evacuated from Afghanistan landed in Poland on Thursday. Michal Dworczyk, head of the Prime Minister’s Office, reported this to the neighboring country’s media.
“We can expect more flights of this type in the next few hours and days as a ‘corridor’ has been opened between Warsaw and Kabul. More precisely, military planes fly from Kabul to Uzbekistan, and civilians fly from there to Warsaw, “said M. Dworczyk.
According to him, these flights will continue until all the people who assisted the Polish soldiers or diplomats are safely removed from Afghanistan.
The first plane to evacuate people from Afghanistan landed in Warsaw on Wednesday with 76 people.
It may not be possible to save everyone
Germany has evacuated about 900 people from Afghanistan since Sunday, including 100 Afghans. Roderich Kiesewetter, now a member of the German Christian Democratic Union, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, told Deutche Welle that his country’s Foreign Ministry should start talks with the Taliban about the possibility of deporting all those who had helped. to the Germans for the past two decades.
However, a member of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee admits that evacuating everyone will not be easy, if not impossible. The Afghans who helped the Germans, who are currently in northern Afghanistan, may be left alone.
“We just don’t know how to get them out of there,” Kiesewetter said.
Two planes with about 500 people leaving Afghanistan landed at Frankfurt airport on Thursday. The planes flew from a point in the Uzbek capital, where Germany had established an evacuation center.
A total of about 8,000 people are estimated to have been evacuated from Afghanistan since Sunday. people. Most of them, around 6 thousand. – The Americans were deported. The UK helped over a thousand fly.
But other countries also recognize that rescuing all the Afghans who have helped Western countries over the past two decades may not be successful.
AFP / Scanpix photo / Panic of the Taliban over the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban
Australia’s prime minister, who has so far evacuated about 30 people, Scott Morrison, said his country could do more, but circumstances are difficult.
Defense Minister Peter Dutton echoed his words for the Australian news portal news.com.au. He also said that some Afghans had been denied asylum and permission because “it was difficult to verify their identities.” It is feared that they may carry out a terrorist attack when they arrive in Australia.
“It just came to our notice then. We need to be realistic about the circumstances. It is not like moving from Sydney to Melbourne. We are talking about very difficult circumstances,” said the defense minister.
But Australia promises to continue the evacuation and estimates that more than 400 people await its help.
Can stay longer
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday expressed hope that thousands of US soldiers sent back to Afghanistan for evacuation will return to their homeland by August 31, the deadline for ending the war.
But he hinted for the first time that they might stay longer: “If there are American citizens left, we will stay to get them all out.”
The president, who admitted to being surprised by the rapid collapse of the US-backed Afghan government, ordered the seizure of Kabul airport for evacuation.
He said the Taliban were cooperating in the evacuation of the Americans, but added: “How much more difficulty we have with those who helped us when we were there.”
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has promised that the Americans will evacuate as many people as possible, but has recognized the limits of Taliban control over everything except Kabul airport.
“We don’t have the capacity to go out and take a lot of people,” Austin told reporters. According to him, the evacuation will continue “until there is no time and … our capabilities.”
Soldiers have evacuated nearly 6,000 people since the Americans seized Kabul International Airport, to which the US embassy was also temporarily relocated. people, including American and Afghan citizens.
But tens of thousands more Afghans are likely to try to leave the country for fear of revenge from the Taliban. These people include forced translators from the US, US NGOs, and media workers, advocates for women’s rights.
Third-country nationals also face significant problems. The Netherlands announced on Wednesday that the first Dutch evacuation plane had left Taliban-occupied Kabul without Dutch or Afghan citizens because US troops had denied passengers access to the airport.
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