6 Georgian citizens return home from Afghanistan on Hungarian board
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Thursday, August 19
Six Georgian citizens who were in Afghanistan under a private contract, working at an American company, returned home from Afghanistan. A special flight was performed on a Hungarian board which landed at Tbilisi International Airport.
Ilia Darchiashvili, Head of the Administration of the Government of Georgia, and Alexander Khvtisiashvili, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, met the Georgian citizens who returned home with their family members at the airport.
According to the Deputy Foreign Minister, the main problem is the movement of Georgian citizens to Kabul and their arrival at the airport due to the unstable and chaotic situation in the country. According to Khvtisiashvili, 16 more Georgian citizens remain in Kabul for whose rapid evacuation the Georgian side is actively working. He informed that citizens remaining in Kabul feel safe and healthy at the moment.
"There are 16 of our citizens left, we are actively working to bring them from the city to the airport, where the base is already controlled by the American and British, as well as the Turkish military, and then these people will be transferred from there to Georgia.” There are dozens of flights planned with partner countries that people can take. At the same time, the ministry is also working to arrange flights from Georgia to evacuate the remaining people on time.
He also commented that Georgia is not going to accept refugees from Afghanistan and this issue is not being discussed.
According to the head of the Georgian government administration, the return of compatriots to their homeland was safe.
Recall that on August 15, the Taliban movement occupied Kabul and announced the creation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
The European Union plans to hold talks with the Taliban on the evacuation of its citizens and Afghans. The statement was made by the representative of the Alliance for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Joseph Borrell.
“The Taliban have won the war, so we need to talk to them to engage in dialogue as soon as possible to avoid a humanitarian and potential migration catastrophe, as well as a humanitarian crisis,” Borrell said.
He explains that the priority now is to safely evacuate the Europeans left in the country and those Afghans who have worked with them for the past 20 years and now want to leave the country. Borrell promises that the EU will do everything to bring them asylum in the EU member states. The Afghan refugees will initially be received by Spain, which will act as a kind of hub until they are relocated to different countries of the union.
Borrell emphasized that this does not mean recognizing the Taliban, it means protecting Afghans, including women and girls, and for that, it is necessary to connect with them.
According to the EU representative, the mission in Afghanistan aimed to destroy al-Qaeda, which was later replaced by the construction of a modern state.
“A state that should be able to guarantee the freedom and fundamental rights of people, especially women and girls. Today, 20 years later, we can say that the first part of the mission was successful, the second - no,” he commented.
A White House spokesman announced that U.S. troops have withdrawn 3,200 people from Afghanistan already, Britain plans to evacuate 1,000 people daily.
The United States has warned the Taliban not to interfere in the evacuation process from Afghanistan, or Washington will use ‘destructive measures,’ said US Central Command Commander General Frank McKenzie.
McKenzie said he met with Taliban leaders in Doha on Sunday and told them that any attempt to attack would be met with a crushing retaliatory measure.
The United States has also restricted the Central Bank of Afghanistan from access to $ 9 billion. According to American media, the decision was made in Washington to restrict access to these assets for the Taliban.
