• Friday, 22 November 2024

Osmani: 25 citizens on Kabul—Doha flight; 50 more to be evacuated next

Osmani: 25 citizens on Kabul—Doha flight; 50 more to be evacuated next
Skopje, 16 August 2021 (MIA) — Twenty-five North Macedonia nationals are about to leave the Kabul airport on a US military plane, and another 50 are also expected to be evacuated from Afghanistan safely, according to Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani. "Of the 50 of our citizens at the airport in Kabul this morning, 25 are already boarding the next US military flight to Doha, Qatar, from where their return home is undeniable,” Foreign Minister Osmani said. He added that the other 25 were waiting at the Kabul airport to take the next evacuation flight. Another 25 citizens are at the US base in Kabul, very close to the airport. “They are all safe and are currently on a waiting list to be transferred to the airport and then evacuated,” Osmani said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no information on any other citizens of North Macedonia in Afghanistan, according to Osmani. “We continue to follow the situation in Afghanistan closely,” he added. A working group was formed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday to help evacuate citizens working in Afghanistan. Osmani said he had personally contacted colleagues from Turkey, Qatar, and the United States. North Macedonia withdrew all military, diplomatic and civilian personnel in July and has no representatives in Afghanistan at the moment. Over the past 72 hours, the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated, and except for US and NATO-controlled military bases, including the Kabul airport, the entire country has been taken over by the Taliban. mr/