Spain plans to end its airlift with Afghanistan this Friday

The airlift between Spain and Kabul has less than 48 hours left.

Government sources admit that this Friday the 27th is the deadline to conclude the evacuation of the Afghans who collaborated with the Armed Forces and Spanish cooperation during almost two decades of presence in the Asian country.

It is a race against the clock, in which the Spanish Government has promised to "leave no one behind", as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, said.

En español

• Spanish operation to evacuate Afghan collaborators from Kabul due to end on Friday

The argument put forward to put an end to the Spanish evacuation operation is that, as of this weekend, Washington reserves the use of Kabul International Airport to repatriate, before Wednesday, September 1, its own citizens (about 1,500 ) and the almost 5,000 soldiers who have controlled the facilities after the entry of the Taliban in the capital, on August 15.

The question is whether these two days are enough to evacuate all the Afghans who have worked for Spain and for that reason their security is now threatened.

The Spanish Embassy in Kabul identified almost 600 people, including translators, employees (cooks, transporters, logisticians) of the Spanish mission and their families.

Until this Wednesday, 1,242 evacuees had arrived in Spain, of which 1,040 have requested international protection, but many of them worked for the United States or the EU, so there are still old Spanish collaborators in Afghanistan.

Afghan merchants display used items at a Kabul market on Wednesday.

On video, images of urban life in Kabul.WAKIL KOHSAR |

VIDEO: EPV

They not only have difficulties to travel from the province of Bagdhis, in the west of the country, about 800 kilometers from the capital, where the Spanish troops operated until 2013, but to get to the airport itself, whose accesses are controlled by the Taliban. The United States, United Kingdom and Australia have warned of a "high threat of terrorist attack" in the vicinity of the Kabul airfield by the Islamic State (ISIS) and have asked their citizens to move away from the area, making it more difficult evacuation.

Government sources assure that every possible effort is being made to bring in Afghans whose lives are in danger of having collaborated with Spain, and recall the commitment made on August 13 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares: “We are not going to leave no one behind ”.

Defense Minister Margarita Robles, who this Wednesday received 292 evacuees from Kabul at the Torrejón de Ardoz base (Madrid) ―first they traveled on a military flight to the United Arab Emirates (USA) and then another civilian flight to Spain―, he was more pessimistic.

"Many people are going to be left behind," he warned.

More information

• Jens Stoltenberg: "Our mission was to protect the United States, not Afghanistan, and we have succeeded"

At Kabul airport there are about 60 Spanish soldiers, including a special operations team, who have ventured outside the facilities to clear the way to Afghans who were on the list drawn up by the Spanish authorities.

Its mission is to support the flights of the A400M transport aircraft sent from Spain.

If at first an attempt was made to accommodate passengers, now they are seated on the ground to accommodate as many people as possible in each device.

Defense Minister Margarita Robles receives a new plane from Dubai with 292 people evacuated from Afghanistan.

In video, statements by Robles in an interview with Cadena Ser.IÑAKI GÓMEZ |

VIDEO: CHAIN ​​SER

Also at the airport is the Spanish ambassador in Kabul, Gabriel Ferrán, his

number two

and the 17 policemen - most of them agents of the Special Operations Group (GEO) - who provided protection to the Spanish diplomatic legation. His return, predictably this Friday together with the military contingent, will mark the end of the Spanish presence in Afghanistan. The Spanish Armed Forces have another detachment of about 40 troops in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) that serves as a stopover on the airlift between Kabul and Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid).

It is likely that after Friday the US flights will continue to bring to Spain the up to 4,000 Afghan collaborators from Washington that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, promised to host last weekend in conversation with the US president, Joe Biden. The evacuees will be transferred to the base in Rota (Cádiz), where they will stay for a maximum of 15 days, according to the agreement signed last Monday between the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ángeles Moreno, and the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of States. United in Spain, Conrad Tribble. In total, Washington intends to temporarily house some 25,000 of its former collaborators in Afghanistan on European bases (Germany, Italy, Kosovo and Spain).

Although the evacuation management has received internal criticism, even Vox, traditionally opposed to receiving immigrants, has asked the Government on Wednesday to welcome Afghans who collaborated with Spanish troops and provide refuge to the tiny Christian community of the Asian country, in danger after the return of the Taliban to power.