Here Are Countries That Ended Afghan Evacuation

In the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, a number of countries announced, on Thursday, ending their evacuation operations from Kabul.

On his part, U.S. President Joe Biden said he is sticking to his August 31 deadline for completing the US pullout as the Taliban insisted he must, ramping up pressure on the already risky operation to fly people out of Kabul. In this sense, here are the latest updates in every country.

Canada 

Canada has ended evacuations from Kabul’s airport on Thursday, as the military flights evacuated about 3,700 people.

“We stayed in Afghanistan for as long as we could. We were amongst the last to cease evacuation operations," General Wayne Eyre, the country’s acting chief of Defense Staff said.

"We wish we could have stayed longer and rescued everyone who was so desperate to leave. That we could not is truly heartbreaking, but the circumstances on the ground rapidly deteriorated,” Eyre added.

Poland

Poland has ended its evacuation mission in Afghanistan, during which it has airlifted out Polish, Afghan and other allied citizens.

They have transported 937 Afghans, as well as an unspecified number of Poles as well as other nationalities, the prime minister’s chief of staff, Michał Dworczyk announced.

Moreover, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said: “We will of course provide them with support here."

Belgium

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo stated that the Belgian federal government made a decision to end all evacuations from Kabul airport over suicide bomb threat.

"Safety has always been our priority. The situation deteriorated dramatically on Wednesday," De Croo said. "We obtained information from an American source that there was a risk of a bomb attack (at Kabul airport)."

However, he added: "that does not mean that it is the end of the assistance we can provide to the Afghans."

Denmark 

The Danish air force has finished flights out of Kabul, has evacuated over 1,000 people since the Taliban took over, according to the Defense Ministry.

"The last Danish Hercules plane has taken off from Kabul. Since August 15, the Danish air force has taken more than 1,000 people out of Afghanistan," the ministry said.

Hungary 

Hungarian Defence Minister Tibor Benko said, on Thursday, that the country had ended its evacuation mission from Afghanistan, with 540 people having been airlifted out.

"This evacuation operation... is over," Benko told reporters in the capital Budapest, noting that the government had successfully taken out all those it wanted to.

EU 

On Tuesday, the European Union said it had evacuated all of its personnel and their families from Afghanistan.

However, it revealed that it kept some of its staff at Kabul airport to help US and allied troops in evacuation operations.

Chief spokesman for the EU Commission Eric Mamer said all staff and their families had been evacuated, but did not specify how many people had left Afghanistan.

Germany

Reuters reported on Thursday that Germany has completed its military evacuation operation from Kabul airport.

A source said the last German military aircraft have left Kabul, without giving details.

Earlier, a spokesperson for the German Defense Ministry refused to confirm the media reports about the end of the German evacuation operations.

"The security situation at the Kabul airport has deteriorated further and the threat of a terror attack is becoming increasingly concrete," the spokesperson told DW.

Netherlands

The Dutch government said it would stop evacuation flights from Kabul on Thursday in what it acknowledged was a "painful moment" that would leave some people behind in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

Furthermore, the Netherlands said it had been ordered by US forces to leave ahead of the withdrawal of American troops on August 31.

"The Netherlands has been informed today by the United States that it has to leave and will in all probability run the last flights later today," the Dutch foreign and defence ministers said in a letter to parliament.