An Afghan who was recently evacuated from Kabul has been arrested by French authorities and is suspected of having links to the Taliban, according to reports.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the man was initially arrested because authorities “suspected that person had or had ties to the Afghan Taliban government,” according to Franceinfo.
The Afghan was arrested and detained in Paris after failing to meet the conditions of his confinement “for a few minutes,” Darmanin said.
The man was able to leave Afghanistan after helping French citizens when the embassy was evacuated and “probably saved lives,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal told BFMTV on Tuesday.
But when he was interviewed by authorities at a French military base in Abu Dhabi as part of his evacuation to France, the man confessed to being a member of the extremist group and admitted to participating in a Taliban checkpoint in Kabul.
He was allowed to continue on to France, where he and four other people believed to be family members traveling with him were monitored.
Some 1,200 Afghans have arrived in France since the Taliban took control of the country on August 15, French officials said.
Through the channel, British officials said a man who traveled to the UK from Afghanistan was on a “no-fly” list of potential militants, but that it is no longer considered a risk.
“One person was identified to the Interior Ministry as part of the rigorous verification process, with the involvement of police, security services and others,” an Interior Ministry spokesman said in a statement. “However, after further investigation, they are not a person of interest to security agencies or law enforcement.”
With publishing cables