Netherlands sends extra soldiers to Afghanistan | Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban

The ministry does not want to reveal the number of soldiers involved. The reinforcements, however, will come on top of the 62 soldiers already in the Afghan capital.

“The army provides security for the planes, the deportees, and the consular emergency team that works under the leadership of the ambassador to facilitate the evacuations,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands succeeded in evacuating almost all Afghan staff from its embassy in Kabul from the country. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that a total of 207 embassy staff and their families are on their way to the Netherlands or have already arrived. It is about people who do not have a Dutch passport, for whom it has been difficult to get out of Afghanistan for days.

When staff with a Dutch passport were evacuated last week, they stayed behind. According to the ministry, at that time it was not possible to help them out of the country. In the days that followed, this also proved to be complicated by the security situation in the country especially around the airport.

And on Saturday, 207 of the evacuees appeared to have arrived at Kabul airport safely. They were taken out of the country on several trips with stops in safe countries. On Sunday, the last group boarded a plane bound for the Netherlands and is expected to land later in the day.

The State Department was not immediately able to determine where embassy staff were or were going.