06 Oct 2023 at 09:59
The evacuation from Afghanistan was poorly prepared and started too late. For example, there was no fully-fledged evacuation plan when the Taliban took over power more than two years ago. It is one of the harsh conclusions of the Ruys committee, which investigated the operation.
As early as December 2020, the embassy in Kabul sounded the alarm and asked to develop options for evacuation.
Yet the Netherlands was barely prepared for what was to come, because the urgency in the Netherlands was experienced differently in the ministries involved than in Kabul. On the day the Taliban took over, there was only a plan for the evacuation of three hundred to four hundred people on commercial flights.
A working visit was planned a day earlier to discuss and practice various scenarios. This planning was overtaken by reality. The Taliban’s advance was faster than expected and went beyond “the worst-case scenario.” According to the investigative committee, both the Netherlands and the partner countries have estimated this incorrectly.
There were signals about the deteriorating security situation, but these were “not appreciated” or “consciously or unconsciously” suppressed, the researchers write.
The takeover in Afghanistan
On August 15, the Taliban invaded the Afghan capital Kabul. They take power there a few hours later. From that moment on, chaos and panic ensue.
In the days that follow, thousands of people come to the airport. Shocking images of Afghans clinging to planes are broadcast around the world.
The Dutch special forces try to help as many people as possible on the evacuation list. During the night hours they can lift many people over the walls of the airport.
The evacuations stop on August 26. The threat of a suicide attack is so high at that moment that it can no longer happen safely.
A total of 1,860 people were evacuated to the Netherlands in the eleven-day period.
None of the ministers felt ultimately responsible
The evacuation operation that followed was chaotic. For example, there was no good crisis structure at the ministries. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense involved were mainly focused on their own responsibilities and less on cohesion.
A good example of this is the interpreter file. During the years that the Netherlands was active in Afghanistan, Defense worked with Afghan interpreters. They were and still are in great danger. The Ministry of Defense acted too cautiously here and, according to the committee, should have taken responsibility.
Overall, the committee believes that the Minister of Foreign Affairs (which was then outgoing Minister Sigrid Kaag) should have taken the directing role. The other ministers should have given her that role. Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte could also have helped with this.
The research:
The Kabul Evacuation Operation Commission has been investigating the evacuations from Afghanistan for over a year. The committee has made a reconstruction of the period from August 15 to August 26, 2021. The committee also investigated why things happened the way they did. More than forty thousand documents were studied and the committee spoke to more than two hundred people involved.
Beeld: Getty Images
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PoliticsForeign Takeover of power in Afghanistan
2023-10-06 07:59:41
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