Pakistan airline PIA offered to evacuate 300 people from Afghanistan on behalf of the Dutch at the end of September but the offer was rejected, NOS said on Tuesday.

The broadcaster bases its claim on information provided under the freedom of information act.

The reason for rejecting the flight is not clear but one civil service email suggests it may have been due to the shortage of accommodation for refugees in the Netherlands. The foreign affairs ministry has not yet responded for requests to clarify this, NOS said.

Hundreds of both Dutch nationals and Afghan nationals who had worked for the Dutch were waiting to be evacuated at the time.

The emails also suggested that if the flight could not be filled by the Netherlands, places could be offered to people from other countries.

Nevertheless the offer was rejected, with one civil servant writing ‘as was agreed yesterday, we will use the PIA route first for small groups (15 to 20 people).

Another civil servant said that given refugee centres were totally full, ‘we may have to keep the groups small. A complete plan full will also be a challenge at Schiphol and in the centres.’

Since then, the cabinet has adopted a strategy of bringing out small groups via Pakistan and Qatar.

Kabul

The AD said at the end of last year that the Netherlands had brought 573 people out of Afghanistan since the main evacuation ended in August.

The figures from the foreign affairs ministry show 352 people were brought out via Qatar and 221 via Islamabad in Pakistan. The total, which includes family members, involves 228 people with a Dutch passport or residency permit.

The Netherlands evacuated some 2,500 people from Kabul as the city fell to the Taliban, but there was much criticism of the chaos and hundreds of people were left behind.