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France: French soldiers prepare to board a military Airbus A400M to evacuate French citizens from Afghanistan
Photo: Uncredited / dpa
This article will be updated continuously.
Development Minister Müller wants help for Afghan women
6:40 a.m.:
Federal Development
Minister
Gerd Müller (CSU) worries about the development
aid
staff remaining in the crisis country.
"There are still around 1,000 local Afghan workers in ongoing development aid projects who have to be rescued with their family members," Müller told the newspaper, "Augsburger Allgemeine".
The Afghan local development aid workers are treated in the same way "like those of the Bundeswehr" when they leave the country.
During the evacuation of Kabul, "committed human rights activists and journalists should not be forgotten."
EU foreign ministers discuss the situation in Afghanistan
06.38 a.m.:
The EU foreign ministers will
hold
a crisis meeting on Tuesday (4 p.m.) to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. In view of the latest developments, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has scheduled a video conference. After the radical Islamic Taliban came to power, the EU countries are trying, according to Borrell, to accelerate the evacuation of personnel from Afghanistan. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) gives a press statement at 3:30 p.m.
According to diplomats, representatives of the EU Commission asked the member states to issue visas to the 500 to 600 Afghan employees of the EU representation in Kabul and their family members.
In view of the chaotic situation in Kabul, however, it was unclear how all local staff should get to the airport from which the evacuation flights start.
The Taliban captured the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday and took power.
The Afghan government admitted its defeat, and President Ashraf Ghani fled abroad.
asc / dpa7Afp / Reuters / AP