Fiona Govan
SPAIN has said it will launch a new evacuation operation to extract those Afghans who worked for Spanish authorities and are now at risk from the Taliban.
Spain’s Defence Ministry announced on Sunday that new plans were being drawn up with help from the foreign ministry for a new evacuation mission to estract those not included in the initial airlifts from Kabul.
“An operation is underway to extract people who had worked for Spain in the coming hours or days,” Defense Minister Margarita Robles said. “Spain does not leave anyone behind.”
No further details were given but Spain’s press agency Efe reported the plan involved extracting some 200 people through Pakistan.
RTVE reported that 130 Afghanis with links to Spain had already crossed into Pakistan and were waiting to be evacuated.
Last month Spain’s Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Albares, travelled to Pakistan to negotiate safe passage for Afghan refugees who helped Spanish forces.
Spain airlifted some 2,200 people — Spaniards and Afghans — from Afghanistan in the first days of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as the US withdrew troops in August.
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