Australia evacuates another 470 people from Afghanistan

Sydney, Australia, Aug 23 (EFE).- Australia evacuated another 470 people from Afghanistan on several rescue flights on Monday morning, the country’s prime minister announced.

At a press conference, Scott Morrison clarified that some of the evacuees were going to be taken to the United Kingdom while Foreign Minister Marise Payne said that the “continued focus is on bringing out every Australian and Australian visa holder that we possibly can, and supporting those vulnerable Afghanis as well to move, if we possibly can.”

In this regard, Payne indicated that there was a possibility that the United States would extend the Aug. 31 deadline for its withdrawal from Hamid Karzai International Airport and assured that Australia was prepared to support a continuing evacuation operation.

Australia has evacuated more than 800 people from Kabul airport since the Taliban took over the Afghan capital.

The country has pledged in principle to host some 3,000 Afghans in the next 10 months.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said Monday that the total number of people the country was trying to evacuate was constantly changing.

“There is a significant number. I don’t want to put a figure on it because it is changing almost by the hour as more people are seeking to come to Australia,” she said.

Evacuation operations being carried out by different countries are affected by the chaotic situation outside the airport where the Taliban are preventing access for Afghans who want to leave.

Australia participated in the fight against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, although this year the country followed in the footsteps of the US and NATO and withdrew the last of its soldiers deployed in the country. EFE

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