Romania's interinstitutional task force manages to evacuate five Afghan nationals from Kabul

Romania's interinstitutional task force has managed to evacuate five Afghan nationals from Kabul who were admitted to the airport and later evacuated with support from Romania's international partners with whom the task force was in contact, according to the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE). According to MAE, the task force continued to take sustained steps to evacuate Afghan nationals, former collaborators of Romanian troops and international organisations, students on scholarships in Romania, at-risk groups such as journalists, human rights activists, magistrates and some members of heir families. These steps are taking place in an extremely complex, volatile and unpredictable security context, marked by constantly worsening negative developments on the ground, including terrorist attacks on August 26. "Thus, the Interinstitutional Task Force has managed to evacuate five Afghan nationals from Kabul of the aforementioned categories, who were admitted to the airport and later evacuated with support from Romania's international partners with which the task force was in contact. They - a student on scholarship in Romania and two journalists together with family members - are already safe outside Afghanistan. As part of the multiple efforts to facilitate the evacuation, the task force issued and sent to the five Afghan nationals documents confirming their protection by the Romanian state and kept in touch with them," according to MAE. The task force continued to work 24/7 to manage the situation of Afghan nationals in the categories mentioned above - processing requests, contacting them, identifying and validating their security. It is worth mentioning that for humanitarian reasons and on the basis of nominal lists and undergoing the necessary checking and validation procedures, the Romanian authorities support the evacuation without the need to apply for a visa in advance. "The priority of the Interinstitutional Task Force at this stage remains to facilitate safe transit to the Kabul Airport for the Afghan nationals who have called for help amid a highly unstable security state, which has worsened in recent days. The task force keeps a permanent link with international partners on the ground," the MAE release reads. MAE mentions that as a result of the steps taken by the task force convened by the foreign minister on August 13, all Romanian nationals asking for evacuation, 49 in all, were ultimately evacuated in various ways. "At the same time, the Interinstitutional Task Force continues to liaise with the nine Romanian nationals who are still on Afghan soil and who have informed the task force that they do not want to be evacuated," according to the MAE statement. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Florin Marin; EN -author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)