LONDON – One minute before midnight local time on August 31, the last member of the US service was removed from Afghanistan. It marked the end of nearly two decades of war and a frantic and heavily criticized Taliban-driven evacuation effort to quickly retake the country.
The effort, marked by a deadly terrorist attack, brought 123,000 people, including 5,500 U.S. citizens, out of the country since mid-August, in what U.S. officials have described as one of the most evacuations. large and complex stories.
But other countries played a major role in getting a large number of people out of Afghanistan, including those in the region, Europe and Asia. Their flights evacuated tens of thousands, including some American citizens, according to officials and reports, even when thousands more hoping to leave the country were left behind, risking a refugee crisis in the region and beyond the need. deep humanitarian.
Here’s a look at some of these efforts:
The United States did not work alone in overseeing mass evacuation. As of August 30, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates said they had facilitated the evacuation of 40,000 and 36,500 respectively, with a massive security operation that other countries were able to take advantage of.
Among those evacuated were citizens and allies of NATO members, as well as other countries that had citizens in Afghanistan, with a deadline of August 31 and the Taliban indicate that any extension to the presence of US troops. Americans in the country would be considered a “red line.” . “An estimated 17,000 were deployed as part of the British evacuation effort, codenamed Operation Pitting, from the start of the Taliban offensive until August 31. About 5,000 d. ‘These were British citizens, the British Defense Ministry told ABC News.
An estimated 100 to 200 people have been left in the UK, and on Wednesday a spokesman for the prime minister’s office confirmed to ABC News that an envoy had been sent to Qatar to talk to Taliban officials about the safe passage of those they were still in the country, although the Taliban now control the airport.
On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the country had evacuated 2,834 people from Afghanistan. The military estimates that “a few dozen” French nationals were left behind.
Germany has successfully evacuated 5,300 people, including more than 530 German nationals and about 4,400 Afghans, according to the foreign ministry and the Italian foreign minister said the country has taken on the largest number of Afghan evacuees in the country. European Union, with about 5,000 Afghan citizens arriving in the country, according to the Agence França-Presse.
Canada, another key U.S. partner, evacuated about 3,700 citizens and Afghans, while the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Sweden evacuated about or above 1,000, according to Reuters.
In Eastern Europe, hundreds of Afghans have arrived in Kosovo, Albania and northern Macedonia, many of whom are temporarily staying at the request of the US and are expected to travel to America, local media reported. Russia evacuated some of its own citizens, as well as those of its former Soviet allies from Afghanistan last week, according to Russia’s defense minister.
Japan evacuated a national and 15 Afghans, but about 500 people who requested the evacuation were left behind after the suicide attack at Kabul airport led to a reluctance to continue, according to Kyodo News.
In addition to air evacuations, many Afghans have sought asylum at Afghanistan’s land borders, mainly because the airport was becoming increasingly difficult to reach. Tens of thousands of people have crossed at two major border crossings: Spin Boldak to the south and Torkham to the north. The border, however, is closed to refugees, local officials said.
Prior to the Taliban offensive, Iran officially had a population of 780,000 Afghan refugees, although an estimated 2 million more can live in the country without documentation, according to UNHCR.
However, the government, after initially stating that it may be receptive to the idea of accepting new Afghan refugees, has now adopted a policy of not letting Afghans in through one of the country’s main land borders, according to reports. the media affiliated with the Iranian state.
Both borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have to do with an influx of Afghans, although the figures are therefore estimated at thousands of lows. They are reportedly expected to move to third countries.
And, according to the media, Turkey has been strengthening its eastern border as it anticipates a wave of migration from Afghanistan, with the country evacuating 1,400 people, 1,000 of whom were of Turkish nationality, according to an account. Reuters.
Evacuation efforts are unlikely to be the last the world sees in terms of mass movement of people from the country. Last week, the UN estimated some 500,000 new refugees in the region who wanted to leave the country as a “worst case scenario.” According to the Financial Times, the EU is drafting a package of more than $ 700 million in aid to Afghanistan’s neighbors, fearing a repeat of the migrant crisis following the Syrian civil war, according to the Financial Times.
And even with US-led evacuation efforts, there is growing pressure from the international community for the Taliban to continue to allow Afghans to leave the country, with many foreign nationals and tens of thousands of Afghans leaving. help during the longest period in the United States. war facing an unknown fate under the new regime.
Ibtissem Guenfoud, ABC Habibullah Khan, Luisa Rollenhagen, Phoebe Natanson, Patrick Reevell, Conor Finnegan, Anthony Trotter and Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.