Tonight it was not possible to evacuate a group of Dutch people from Kabul with a C-17 transport aircraft. The large cargo plane took off with about 40 people on board. According to unconfirmed reports, the aircraft will land at Schiphol tonight.
Defense reports that there are no Dutch or Afghans on board. How that comes about is unclear. On social media, the Dutch report that they had difficulty reaching the airport due to traffic on the road. There is also a curfew in Kabul.
The situation at Kabul airport is unclear and very changeable, Defense writes. The US military guarding the airport will not allow Afghans arriving from outside the airport for security reasons. The Netherlands is trying to find out when the Afghans who are nominated to be evacuated can return to the airport.
Kaag wants more time from Americans
“It is very fluid and chaotic around the airport,” says outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs Kaag. “There was a half hour lock to get people on the tarmac. A lot of people were there and stood at the gate of the airport. Hopefully tomorrow there will be an improvement of the situation.”
“We want the Americans to give us more time. There must be more time than half an hour. Everything is in the hands of the Americans at the airport. We will continue to work in a European context on better coordination,” said Kaag. Earlier it was announced that a new embassy team was on its way to Kabul. That team will be operational from 09:00 tomorrow morning, says Kaag.
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