Ministers will discuss on Friday how to evacuate hundreds of people who worked with or for Dutch aid organisations in Afghanistan. In total, some 900 people, including their family members, are eligible to be evacuated, alongside a similar number of people with connections to the Dutch military, the Volkskrant reported on Friday.

That means ministers must make plans to bring out around 2,000 people, the VK said. That figure is roughly in line with estimates made by the NRC earlier this week.

Some 300 Dutch nationals also remain in Afghanistan and they too must be brought out, NOS said.

The Netherlands evacuated 1,897 people out of Kabul during the August chaos which followed the withdrawal of peacekeeping forces. Of them just over 1,000 were interpreters and other essential workers, and their family members. They are now going through the asylum process.

Last weekend, junior justice minister Ankie Broekers-Knol caused outrage when she suggested 100,000 Afghans could be heading to the Netherlands, without any concrete grounds to base such a figure on. She later apologised.