The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, held a telephone conversation with US President Joe Biden on Saturday, in which they analyzed the situation in Afghanistan and agreed that the Spanish bases of Rota and Morón would temporarily host to Afghans who have collaborated with the United States.
Sanchez initially reported this conversation with the US president, which lasted about 25 minutes, on his Twitter account, in which he described the talk as “fruitful”, and the Spanish government later specified details of the same.
“We have addressed several issues of common interest, especially the situation in Afghanistan and the collaboration between the two governments in the evacuation of citizens from this country,” the Prime Minister wrote.
Sanchez accompanied his message on the social network (written in English and Spanish) with a photograph of the moment he was talking on the phone with Biden from his office in the Palau de la Moncloa.
The Spanish government reported that the two leaders shared their concern about the situation in Afghanistan and agreed on the need for the international community to act in a coordinated and supportive manner, especially to facilitate evacuation and repatriation operations.
Sanchez informed Biden that Spain continues to work closely with its partners and allies on the evacuation of vulnerable Afghans after the Taliban came to power.
He also conveyed details of the mechanism that Spain has set up to act as a place of arrival and distribution of the EU External Action Service.
Sánchez and Biden reaffirmed their desire to continue cooperating closely to facilitate these evacuation operations and, in particular, agreed to use the Rota and Morón bases to temporarily house Afghan collaborators from the United States. in transit to other destinations, according to Spanish government sources.
The Spanish government also highlighted as proof of the collaboration between Spain and the United States that this Saturday, at the request of the United States, a Spanish plane carrying 64 evacuated Afghans landed at the Torrejón de Ardoz base. they have collaborated with this country.
Sanchez and the US president had not held any talks since the relay in the White House until they met on June 14 in Brussels at the NATO summit.
In the corridors of the Atlantic Alliance headquarters there was a brief talk between the two.
This Saturday they talked more slowly over the phone to analyze the situation in Afghanistan and how Spain and the United States can continue to cooperate in the process of evacuating Afghan citizens who have collaborated with the two countries and the European Union. .
Hours before his conversation with Biden, Sánchez visited, along with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Council President Charles Michel, the Torrejón de Ardoz air base camp where temporarily installs citizens arriving from Afghanistan before being distributed among the various member countries of the European Union.
Spain therefore acts as an initial reception center (in a gesture praised by both Von der Leyen and Michel), and for this reason, Sánchez canceled a trip he had planned to make that week to Egypt and Kenya as he wishes to remain in Spain following this process closely.