The Netherlands has sent military and diplomatic reinforcements to the airport in the capital Kabul. There, soldiers are investigating ‘all possibilities’ to get evacuees in and help them on their flights, according to the Ministry of Defense. Ambassador Caecilia Wijgers announced on Monday that 810 Dutch people, interpreters and other employees of the Dutch mission have been brought to safety so far.
The time pressure on the evacuation has intensified as the Taliban say that staying after the August 31 deadline will have ‘consequences’. Wijgers calls the situation distressing and the scenes at the gates of the airport ‘dangerous and risky’.
closed gate
The outer ring is in the hands of the extremists. And the Americans, British and Germans, who guard the entrance to the airport, let few people through. Wijgers: ‘The gates are often closed without us being informed.’ Her statements reinforce the image that only countries with sufficient troops and equipment on site, who also commute to the city to pick up people, can take major steps in the evacuation.
Among the hundreds of people that the Netherlands has evacuated so far are groups of interpreters, journalists’ fixers and women’s rights activists. Some people involved report that the diplomats and military personnel at the Kabul airport are inventive and persistent, others complain about the lack of coordination and the crisis center’s slow response to requests to list people.
At the same time, there is a growing awareness that the evacuation – as well as the government’s belated political gesture to all Afghan personnel (not just interpreters) – is coming too late for many. The capacity for evacuation is limited, says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This poses obstacles for many Afghan employees, even though the cabinet announced last Wednesday that it would carry out the will of the House of Representatives to evacuate all Afghan personnel of Dutch organizations ‘as quickly as possible’.
Worst cases
Development organizations see two barriers for their personnel, which in theory must now also be brought to safety. Because although almost all the staff of some organizations want to leave, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged development organizations to report only the ‘worst cases’.
The lucky ones who do get ‘on the list’ have to deal with strict rules about family that can come along: the partner and ‘dependent children’. “So a sick grandmother who lives at home is not allowed to come,” says a source from a development organization, who wishes to remain anonymous so as not to endanger employees. “That leads to enormous trauma, and shows once again that our culture does not understand the Afghan.” As a result, at least one women’s rights activist in grave danger has decided to stay in Afghanistan for this reason.
There is also murmuring in the House of Representatives. “Other countries do it more effectively and then I express myself diplomatically,” Derk Boswijk (CDA) told Nu.nl. Former union leader Anne-Marie Snels of the military union AFMP FNV, who receives calls for help from Afghan personnel every day, says: ‘If we continue to do it at this speed, and in this way, a lot of people will be left behind.’
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