The cases of all Afghans who ask the French authorities to ask to be exfiltrated from their country which has fallen into the hands of the Taliban are being examined, assured Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. “All the cases that have arisen – and their number is growing day by day with hundreds of names – are being investigated”, declared the minister in the Sunday Newspaper (JDD).
Since the establishment of the airlift set up after the fall of Kabul on Sunday, the Air Force has already transported more than 600 people to Paris on four flights, the vast majority of whom are Afghans, to whom s ‘add 625 people who had been transferred between May and July in anticipation of the Taliban takeover.
A situation of chaos on the spot
But many people claiming to have worked for French structures or members of civil society have asked to be exfiltrated, while the situation in Kabul is tense, as the embassy has withdrawn to the airport, surrounded by a crowd of Afghans who would like to be exfiltrated. Organizing the rotations of the airlift represents “an effort made very complex by the situation of chaos”.
“Our only problem is access to the airport, with the Taliban checkpoints, then entering the airport where there is chaos with more than ten thousand people who flock to its doors, ”said the Minister.
US support needed
Under these conditions, “as long as the airport remains open, as long as our personnel are safe there, we remain. Our collective moral responsibility is to ensure that Afghans threatened by their previous commitments are evacuated, ”he said.
In this regard, he urged the United States, which runs the airport, to continue their operation. “I asked them, along with many of my colleagues, that they take their responsibilities by making sure to allow and facilitate the evacuation of all Afghan nationals and auxiliaries but also, at the same level, of the all Afghans whose lives are threatened. And that coordination with the allies takes place more effectively and more effectively. This assumes that the current operation continues for the necessary time ”.
On the diplomatic front, he repeated to wait for the Taliban to meet certain conditions before being able to claim international recognition, “otherwise, Afghanistan would become a pariah state”.