More than 700 Dutch still in Afghanistan

More than 700 Dutch people are still in Afghanistan, the caretaker foreign minister Sigrid Kaag told reporters on Friday.

She said that it was proving difficult to get people from safe locations to the airport, due to Taliban checkpoints.

A flight with 180 evacuees from Afghanistan is on its way to Schiphol airport, the Dutch ministry of defence announced on Friday morning. Some of these may be nationals heading to other countries, and the aircraft is expected to arrive in the afternoon.

Although there has been a series of flights leaving Kabul airport, which is under the control of the American military following the Taliban takeover, it is unclear how many Dutch people have left.

A Nato official said on Friday morning that 18,000 people have so far been evacuated from Kabul airport since Sunday. The Taliban regime has said it will not get in the way of internationals who want to leave.

The Dutch caretaker government has also pledged to help evacuate Afghan people who have worked for the Netherlands and could be at risk, but there have been reports that some translators are too intimidated to try to cross Taliban checkpoints. It has emerged that the French began evacuations in April and Kaag said that around 200 Dutch people left the country in June and July. She urged American troops to stay longer to help with the evacuation, including of people who ignored travel advice and went to visit family in the country.

Op dit moment is er een MRTT onderweg naar Schiphol met daarin ca. 180 mensen. Het is nog niet duidelijk hoeveel mensen Nederland als eindbestemming hebben. De geplande aankomsttijd is 15:30 uur. pic.twitter.com/4i6u0tbXpn

— Ministerie van Defensie (@Defensie) August 20, 2021