The airlift set up by France to exfiltrate Afghans wanting to escape the Taliban from Kabul will end on Thursday August 26 if the United States withdraws as planned from Afghanistan on August 31, a senior French diplomat said.
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If the United States follows its goal of total withdrawal on August 31, "
for us, in terms of
" back-
planning
"
, that means that our operation ends Thursday evening.
So we have three days left,
”explained the director of the cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nicolas Roche, to Prime Minister Jean Castex, in the presence of journalists.
Since the fall of Kabul, now in the hands of the Taliban, on August 15, France has established an airlift to exfiltrate threatened French and Afghans.
Nearly 2,000 people have already been taken out of the country by these means.
The Foreign Ministry has identified 62 French people still to be evacuated, and scores of Afghans have requested an exfiltration that the authorities are examining.
See also Afghan refugees: "A biased controversy"
During the visit to the Crisis and Support Center (CDCS) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jean Castex underlined the need "
to distinguish between emergencies, which requires rapid responses, from the rest
".
The CDCS has thus received nearly 120,000 calls since the start of the bridge, "
90% to 95% of the calls are from Afghan refugees in France who are worried about their families,
" according to the ministry.
