Afghanistan: the first exfiltrators from Kabul by France arrived in Roissy

The first 45 exfiltrated from Kabul by France arrived this Tuesday afternoon at the Parisian airport of Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle.

It was the first full rotation of the airlift set up by Paris after the fall of the Afghan capital to the Taliban.

Other rotations are planned in the hours and days to come, to evacuate all French nationals as well as Afghans who have worked for French organizations and who are leaving the country in panic.

No details have yet been communicated on the health measures taken on arrival to detect possible Covid-19 contamination.

According to the Ministry of the Armed Forces, these first exfiltrators are either French or from "partner countries".

The evacuation of the Afghans who will be taken in charge by France, however, has not yet started.

Special forces in Kabul

The authorities refuse to indicate at this stage how many people in total France will exfiltrate as part of this operation called Apagan. It mobilizes two Air Force planes on the Emirates-Kabul section and two others for flights between the Emirates and France. "The absolute urgency is to put our compatriots, who must all leave the country, as well as the Afghans who worked for France, to safety," President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday evening.

A first aircraft, an A400 M military transport, which left France on Monday for the Emirates, brought special forces to Kabul to participate in the evacuation operations. They "will contribute to the security of the airport (...) and allow the embarkations and evacuations of French nationals, community nationals and Afghan personalities that we plan to bring to safety in the days to come", declared in Kabul. David Martinon, Ambassador of France, before the departure of the aircraft. This first flight also embarked "the Gurkhas of the French Embassy, ​​who are these elite Indian and Nepalese soldiers, who return home their mission completed", he specified.

This Tuesday morning, the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly announced the arrival in the Emirates of the first exfiltrators.

“After a very chaotic situation at the end of the day yesterday” at Kabul airport, a first plane was able to land and then leave and “arrived at the end of the night” at a French Emirati base, she told the RTL radio.

With this first flight, "we have laid the foundations for an airlift between Kabul and the United Arab Emirates", where France has a military base, Al Dhafra Air Base 104, said the minister, who also referred to the difficulties encountered by some Afghans wanting to be evacuated by France to get to the airport because of the roadblocks installed by the Taliban.

Scenes of total anarchy

On Monday, the situation at Kabul airport, whose runways were overrun, had worsened to the point that all flights, civilian and military, had to be suspended for several hours.

Videos posted on social media showed scenes of utter anarchy, such as hundreds of people running near an American military transport plane that rolls into take-off position, while some madly try to cling to its flanks or its wheels.

Read also The incredible photo of Afghans fleeing the Taliban in an American C-17

The dazzling triumph of the insurgents triggered scenes of monster panic. A tide of people has rushed towards what is the only way out of Afghanistan, to try to escape the new regime that the Islamist movement, back in power after twenty years of war, promises to put in place.