A Dutch evacuation operation has been going on in Afghanistan for more than 24 hours, but it is proceeding with difficulty. In any case, an unknown number of Dutch people are waiting in one bus, near the airport. But they get no further. The evacuees have not seen any Dutch soldiers, while the Taliban are clearly present and even enter one of the Dutch buses.
news hour has been in contact with the evacuees since yesterday. They were then called upon to assemble at a location that we are not disclosing due to security concerns.
The evacuees left in a convoy of buses – with people from different countries – to the airport. At least one bus is still fixed and it is not known whether the other buses have arrived at the airport.
“No one should know that there are many people in here. In Afghanistan, anything can happen. Now someone is coming to me and telling me to turn off my phone,” one of the evacuees said in a voice message.
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On the way they see many Taliban and near the airport they come to a stop. “There are a lot of buses here. The Taliban check papers. It takes a long time. Our bus is at the very back of the row. There are Taliban everywhere. There is no escort. There are also no Dutch soldiers.”
They don’t go any further. Throughout the day, the bus is less than a kilometer from the airport. “We’ve been on the bus for six hours now. It’s hot. There are children. Taliban are now getting on the bus. They are on the bus. I can’t really say what is happening anymore,” says the evacuee.
This footage shows the Taliban entering one of the buses:
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Taliban enter evacuation bus
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms to news hour that an evacuation operation is underway. The ministry does not want to give any further information “because of security”.
‘Very complicated’
Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld said today that it will be “very complicated” to evacuate people after Friday. Minister Sigrid Kaag of Foreign Affairs said that the cabinet is doing everything it can – “counterclockwise” – to get as many people as possible to the airport. At the same time, Kaag says with “great certainty” that not everyone can be picked up.
The Taliban seem to be a firmer stance when it comes to who is allowed to leave and who is not. The atmosphere around the airport is becoming “grim”, according to the cabinet, and it is “very likely” that the pressure and chaos around the airport will increase in the coming days.
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