Spain has terminated the refugee evacuation operation in Afghanistan. The personnel that was coordinating the operation of withdrawal and evacuation of collaborators is already in Dubai and will arrive at the Torrejón de Ardoz air base at 4:45 p.m., according to government sources reported to Europa Press.
The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has assured that Spain “will seek ways” to continue evacuating collaborators and has promised that Afghanistan will not be abandoned, now that the Taliban control the country. “Spain will not leave the Afghan people alone,” Sánchez wrote in a message on his Twitter. “We remain committed to defending Human Rights and freedom in the country,” he added.
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The two A400 planes from Kabul – one of them was on the airport runway at the time of the attack – landed in Dubai at around 7 in the morning and with these two flights the evacuation of Spanish Afghan collaborators and your families.
In these last flights, 81 Spaniards traveled who were still in Afghanistan, including embassy and military personnel, as well as 4 Portuguese military personnel and 85 Afghan collaborators from Spain, Portugal and NATO. The twenty national police officers who were deployed in Kabul also travel among these personnel: thirteen from the Special Operations Groups (GEO) and seven from the Police Intervention Units (UIP), according to EFE.
On the Air Europa flight that will leave Dubai and arrive in Madrid at 4:45 p.m., the personnel dependent on the Embassy, the non-flight military personnel and the rest of the Afghan aid workers will come. The crews of the aircraft, that is, the personnel of the Air Force Wing-31, and probably some of the Air Takeoff Support Squadron (EADA), will rest for a day in Dubai and will return to Zaragoza on Sunday 29 in the three aircraft. A400M deployed by the Armed Forces in the evacuation operation.
Some nations, including Denmark, Poland, Canada or Belgium, have already ended their operations from the airport, and others have announced that they plan to conclude them in the next few hours due to the imminent withdrawal of US troops, whose deadline is the August 31st.
In total, the Spanish Armed Forces have evacuated 1,900 Afghan aid workers and relatives, from Spain and other countries, such as the United States or Portugal, the European Union, the UN, NATO and the staff of the Spanish embassy in Kabul , the Government has informed a communiqué.
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, presides this Friday the meeting of the Working Group that supervises the repatriation operation of the Spanish contingent in Afghanistan, at a difficult time due to the explosions registered in Kabul and in the vicinity of the airport.
The meeting is held from eleven o’clock in the morning and the second vice president and minister of Labor and Social Economy participate; the Minister of Foreign Affairs; and the holders of Defense; Inside; Health and Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations.
The working group is coordinated by the Minister of the Presidency, Relations, Félix Bolaños, who later has scheduled an informative appearance at the Moncloa complex, according to the Government’s agenda for this Friday.
