Escaped from hell: first Dutch people back from Afghanistan, hundreds still in fear | Inland

The plane left the Afghan capital Kabul earlier in the day and made a stopover in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, on the way. Once at Schiphol, the passengers first undergo a corona test and then continue to be transported in buses.

Dutch and Afghans who worked closely with them are afraid that evacuation from Kabul will not come in time for them.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs would not give exact numbers, but it is estimated that hundreds of people still have to be evacuated from Afghanistan.

For example, another 35 local embassy employees and 175 designated relatives are waiting for a flight from Kabul. According to one of the employees, they feel abandoned by the Dutch staff. He would have left the country without notice on Monday night. “While they had to arrange our evacuation.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is doing its utmost to transfer the local employees to the Netherlands.

Chaos reigned especially around the airport on Wednesday. Shots were fired regularly near the thousands of people waiting. According to an Afghan who has been in the Netherlands for a long time, but is now on site to help his family, the Taliban would execute people in the city.

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Psychological assistance

Sixteen people with a Belgian passport, two with a German and two with a British passport were also on board the aircraft at Schiphol. They were offered an overnight stay in the Netherlands. The passengers got off at the cargo platform and did not enter the country through the regular arrival halls.

The evacuees were reportedly offered psychological help after they landed. Shortly after arrival, however, no Defense spokesperson was available to confirm. The Willem Lodewijk van Nassaukazerne in Zoutkamp in Groningen has recently been hastily prepared to receive possibly hundreds of Afghans, who have nowhere else to go.

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It is not yet known whether people who arrived on Wednesday evening will also be taken there. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about fifty Dutch people have now been returned from Afghanistan.

The aircraft, a C-17, is used by several NATO countries. It concerns a different flight than the plane that brought the Dutch ambassador with a team from Eindhoven to Kabul. 62 soldiers also accompany the emergency consular team for protection. The group must facilitate evacuations to the Netherlands at the airport. The Dutch embassy staff left the Afghan capital in a hurry on Monday due to imminent danger.

The first Dutch people were taken away on Wednesday morning, according to Minister Kaag of Foreign Affairs. About ten Dutchmen were able to leave on a German flight, among other things. However, according to the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin, the first Dutch people were already evacuated last weekend. France reported earlier in the day that four Dutchmen had left Kabul on a French flight.

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Not enough time

On Tuesday evening, a plane sent by the Netherlands arrived in the Afghan capital, but it was not possible to get Dutch people on board there. There would have been too little time and the Americans did not allow Afghans at the airport, so that interpreters and their families could not reach the plane, for example. The plane had to leave after half an hour. A plane that was sent Monday evening was not cleared to land.

What will the Taliban’s next steps be now that they have power in Afghanistan? And how did it get this far? That and more in the defense and security podcast Delta Tango:

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