Some 1,300 Afghans have been evacuated in recent days by France through a military base in Abu Dhabi.
Paris:
France has put under surveillance an Afghan evacuated from Kabul who is suspected of having ties to the Taliban, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Monday.
Some 1,300 Afghans have been evacuated in recent days by France through a military base in Abu Dhabi, after President Emmanuel Macron said the country was opening its weapons to people threatened by the Taliban.
Darmanin told AFP that four other people believed to be close to the main suspect are also under surveillance by French intelligence.
“We believe he may be related to the Taliban, even if that person helped a lot in the evacuation of the French embassy,” the minister said of the main suspect.
According to a ministerial document seen by AFP, the man admitted his membership in the Taliban and said he had worked as an armed leader of a Taliban checkpoint in Kabul.
“Given the considerable difficulties in conducting security investigations on returnees,” French authorities “agreed to take this person and his family on board” from the evacuation flight, the minister said.
When the man arrived in Abu Dhabi, France’s DGSI intelligence agency was conducting investigations and has now been notified of the surveillance order, as well as the other four evacuees believed to be there. linked, Darmanin said.
Macron promised in a televised speech last week that France would “protect those most at risk in Afghanistan” and at the same time promised that Europe would put together a “robust” initiative to thwart illegal migration and, in in particular, human smuggling networks.
“We need to anticipate and protect ourselves from significant irregular migratory flows that endanger migrants and risk favoring trafficking of all kinds,” he said.
His comments angered the French left and activists who argued that it had hinted that France would let in only a limited number of people and turn a blind eye to many Afghans in need of help.
Migration will have to be one of the most contentious battlefields as Macron prepares for the 2022 presidential election which could be left in a duel with the far right.
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