Since the capture of Kabul by the Taliban on August 15, France has evacuated many Afghans to its territory. Evacuations so far without a hitch, before an imbroglio in recent hours following the surveillance of five Afghans. One of them is suspected of being close to the Taliban, another is taken into custody, according to the latest information gathered on Tuesday.
20 minutes recap of the events.
Tuesday August 17: A “precious help” at the French Embassy
It all started at the French Embassy in Kabul, a city in the hands of the Taliban since August 15. A 26-year-old young man allegedly helped evacuate French people and people who worked for France, during the very tense evacuation of the French embassy, according to government spokesman Gabriel Attal. The latter even emphasizes that the man would have “probably saved lives”, in an interview with BFM. Same story with the Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin, who told the French Press Agency (AFP) that the individual “very largely helped in the evacuation of the French embassy”. According to the boss of the RAID, Jean-Baptiste Dulion, 216 people, including 25 French, were exfiltrated from the embassy on this occasion.
Wednesday August 18: Evacuation of Kabul
The man is said to have left the Afghan capital aboard an A400M wide-body military plane on August 18, accompanied by two of his brothers and two relatives with less close ties. “Faced with the extremely strong difficulties of being able to carry out security investigations on the people to be repatriated”, the French authorities “agreed to embark this person and his family”, specifies the Ministry of the Interior. According to the same sources, his heroic action during the evacuation of the embassy would have contributed to its evacuation. Another reason mentioned to validate his departure for France, because of his intervention during the evacuation of the embassy, the man “risked significant reprisals”, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Stopover in Abu Dhabi
As specified by the ministry above, the checks do not necessarily have time to be done in Kabul, due to the extremely tense geopolitical context and the urgent need to evacuate as many people as possible. Consequently, each plane going to Paris stops in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, which allows, in a peaceful context, the verification of information and profiles.
During this stopover, several Afghans pointed out to the French authorities as being close to the Taliban. Found by the intelligence services, the man admitted his membership of the Taliban movement and admitted to having carried arms as the person in charge of a Taliban roadblock in Kabul, according to the order taken by the minister, during interviews with security led by the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI).
Monday 23 August morning: Installation of the Micas
After their arrival in France this weekend, four of these individuals are placed in a reception structure located in Noisy-le-Grand (Seine-Saint-Denis). Monday, August 23, the police informed them that they were the subject of an “individual measure of administrative control and surveillance” (Micas) with restrictive measures of freedom, because of their link with “a movement giving itself as end the establishment of an Islamic emirate governed by Sharia law and terrorism as a means ”and“ persons or organizations facilitating or participating in acts of terrorism ”. A fifth man, who came by another theft, is concerned, because DGSI surveillance shows possible links with the four individuals.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, these five men are the only ones landed in France for the moment to be the subject of feedback from the DGSI, even if the ministry remains “extremely attentive”.
Monday 23 August late afternoon: Arrest of one of the five individuals
One of these five individuals was then taken into custody, the government spokesman announced on Tuesday. This is not the man who helped at the French embassy and recognized ties to the Taliban, but one of his relatives.
The man was taken into custody because he broke the individual measure of administrative control and surveillance on Monday, said the Paris prosecutor’s office. He only left “a few minutes” from the “area that the DGSI had asked him to keep,” said Gérald Darmanin on France Info.