Afghanistan: end of the airlift Thursday for France if the United States withdraws well on August 31

Operation Apagan, the airlift set up by France to exfiltrate its nationals and Afghans threatened by the future regime from Kabul, will end on Thursday if the United States withdraws from Afghanistan as planned on August 31.

This is what Jean Castex's chief of staff said on Tuesday during a visit to the crisis and support center (CDCS) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

If the United States cannot postpone the date of August 31 to leave Afghanistan, “for us, in terms of back-planning, that means that our operation ends Thursday evening.

So we have three days left, ”Nicolas Roche explained to Prime Minister Jean Castex, in the presence of journalists.

This Tuesday, during the virtual meeting of the G7, Paris hopes to obtain a delay from the United States.

Evacuations accelerated Monday at Kabul airport but there are still thousands of candidates for departure.

Nearly 2,000 people have already left Kabul under the aegis of France.

Paris has identified 62 French people who remain to be evacuated from Afghanistan, and hundreds of requests are being investigated.

This Tuesday morning, Jean Castex underlined the need "to distinguish between emergencies, which requires rapid responses, from the rest".

The CDCS has received nearly 120,000 calls in the past week, "90% to 95% of calls are from Afghan refugees in France who are worried about their families," according to the ministry.

A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the Council of State following several summary proceedings filed by Cimade, the National Council of Bars, Gisti and other associations.

They ask for visas for relatives, still in Afghanistan, of Afghan refugees already on French soil.