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Spanish plane leaves Kabul for Dubai with 110 passengers

By Ron Howells • Published: 20 Aug 2021 • 11:14

Joint statement on Afghanistan safe passage

Image: Twitter

Spanish plane leaves Kabul for Dubai with 110 passengers.

A second Spanish Armed Forces plane took off from the Kabul airport at 06:30 this morning, Friday, August, 20, with a group of 110 people evacuated from Afghanistan, including three complete families of Embassy staff, and is scheduled to land at 10:00 a.m. in Dubai.

The Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs confirmed this in a joint statement with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the European Union.

Spanish diplomat, José Manuel Albares, said on the Ser radio station that of this second group of 110 people, 50 are expected to remain in Spain and will claim asylum.

Albares also added that there are no Spanish Embassy personnel left in Kabul, beyond the minimum necessary to continue with the evacuation of the collaborators.

Among the passengers, there are personnel who have collaborated with Spanish institutions, such as the Aecid or Defence unit, as well as the captain of the Afghan Paralympic basketball team, Nilofar Bayat.

The head of Foreign Affairs has assured that the Government will not cease in its efforts to locate people who have worked for Spanish institutions but acknowledged that they are having difficulty in contacting them. “We are not going to leave anyone behind,” he assured.

Albares also stressed that the evacuees are “all” Afghans, because “there are no Spaniards left in Afghanistan, except for the Ambassador and the Embassy staff”.

Related:

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is under fire for not ending his holiday while chaos engulfs Afghanistan.

Angela Merkel, Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron have suspended their August holidays to return to the business of government as an international crisis unfolds in Afghanistan.

Sanchez is continuing his holiday in the opulent Palacio de La Mareta in Lanzarote.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, please remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories.

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Ron Howells

Ron actually started his working career as an Ophthalmic Technician- things changed when, during a band rehearsal, his amplifier blew up and he couldn’t get it fixed so he took a course at Birmingham University and ended up doing a degree course. He built up a chain of electronics stores and sold them as a franchise over 35 years ago. After five years touring the world Ron decided to move to Spain with his wife and son, a place they had visited over the years, and only bought the villa they live in because it has a guitar-shaped swimming pool!. Playing the guitar since the age of 7, he can often be seen, (and heard!) at beach bars and clubs along the length of the coast. He has always been interested in the news and constantly thrives to present his articles in an interesting and engaging way.

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