Kaag: First Dutch left Kabul • US evacuates 1,100 people in one day

Outgoing Foreign Minister Kaag said on Twitter that the first Dutch have left Kabul on two evacuation flights and are heading to the Netherlands. It is not known whether this means that these Dutch are on board a plane chartered by the Netherlands or that they were taken away by others. “We are working hard with our allies on new flights to facilitate evacuations in the near future,” she also wrote.

Incidentally, the employees of the Dutch Embassy have already been evacuated; they will be replaced by another team, which left the Netherlands yesterday.

It is not known how many Dutch left with the two flights mentioned by Kaag. France reports that there were four Dutch on a French night flight from Kabul to Abu Dhabi.

Relieved

Kaag told the ANP news agency he was “extremely relieved”. “But this is only a first step, many, many more people have yet to be evacuated.” She won’t say how much.

Nu.nl writes that not everyone made it to the airport. Three families of Dutch Afghans found themselves trapped in the chaos around the airport. There was also gunfire. They then returned to town. Earlier today, they had received a call from the Dutch government to get to the airport.

Yesterday, an attempt to embark the Dutch on a plane sent by the Netherlands failed. The Ambassador of the Netherlands arrives in Kabul today. Kaag hopes she can prevent the Dutch from missing out on another opportunity to leave.