33 IRISH CITIZENS are waiting to be flown out of Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of the country.
25 Irish adults and eight dependents are trying to leave the country as militaries seek to “secure” Kabul airport.
The Irish citizens will likely be transported home on a flight organised by a foreign military.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said the “number of Irish citizens looking to leave Afghanistan has increased slightly over the last 24 hours – it’s now 33 people. That’s 25 adults and eight dependents”.
“We’re working with other EU countries to secure places for them on military flights out of Kabul airport that hopefully will be facilitated in the coming days.”
The minister described the situation at Kabul airport as “quite chatoic” and said that it is not yet safe for “even military planes to fly in and out to bring citizens home”.
Ireland is seeking to ensure that “when it is possible for military or military-organised flights to fly in and out of Kabul” there will be “place on some of those planes for the Irish citizens to be brought home”.
“We’re relying on the US in particular to secure safe passage through Kabul airport,” Coveney said.
“This is a fluid situation, so you can’t say anything with certainty,” he said.
At a meeting of the EU foreign affairs council yesterday, member states discussed working together to ensure that citizens from each country would be able to leave Afghanistan, but that they have to wait until the airport is secure.
Coveney said that “everybody recognises that this a pretty catastrophic situation” given the Taliban’s history of brutality and mistreatment of women during its rule in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.
He said there’s a “recognition that we have to talk to the Taliban and make a number of things very clear” – namely that other countries would hold Afghanistan to international laws.
“Just beause they are the Taliban does not mean international law doesn’t apply to Afghanistan.”
Whether Afghanistan under the Taliban complies with those laws “will determine whether or not the EU has a relationship with Afghanistan from a support or aid or trade perspective”.
“We want to put as much pressure as we possibly can to force the Taliban to, in an effort to seek international recognition, abide by international law and protect their population, particularly women and girls.”
Ireland has confirmed that up to 150 humanitarian visas will be provided for Afghans under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme in addition to 45 vias already approved in recent days.
“We’ve agreed to take 150 and we’ve more or less agreed that list now working with NGOs and humanitarian organisations and media organisations who are desperately looking to get people out,” Coveney said.
“From my perspective, I’d like us to do more, I have to say, but we have to plan for that properly.”
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, around 96,000 Afghan people are in need of resettlement around the world, especially in neighbouring countries.
Irish humanitarian organisations are calling on the government to resettle at least 1,000 Afghan refugees and to expedite applications for international protection amid the crisis.
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