Dutch diplomats flee Kabul, abandon Afghan staff with Taliban

Dutch diplomats have fled Kabul, abandoning their Afghan staff amid Taliban takeover.
Dutch media NRC reported that about 37 Afghan employees of the embassy and their family members, up to 200 people, were left behind.
“When Afghan employees of the Dutch embassy in Kabul arrived at the office on Sunday, they were flabbergasted to find that the Dutch had all left without telling them anything. They just left,” NRC stated.
While announcing its intention to shut down its Kabul embassy on Friday, the Dutch government had promised to evacuate some of its local Afghan staff in light of the collapsing security situation in Afghanistan. Also, the country’s Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld was quoted to have said that the number of Afghan translators and local staff to be evacuated amounted to “a few dozen.”
Last week the Dutch foreign ministry asked its citizens remaining in Afghanistan to leave quickly, warning that the embassy could not shoulder the responsibility of evacuating them.
Over the weekend, the extremists made major advances across Afghanistan as the U.S. and other countries started withdrawing their troops from the country.
The original date for the full withdrawal of U.S. forces in Afghanistan was September 11, to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The group took over most of southern, northern, and western Afghanistan.
Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province and the biggest city in the north, fell to the Taliban on Saturday, as regional leaders and security forces abandoned the city, fleeing to Uzbekistan for safety.
On Sunday, the Taliban fighters entered the city of Kabul, taking over power from Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Opinion
Abdul Mahmud: Some foundational arguments on state police (Part Deux)
What kind of police federalism does Nigeria need?

States
Kano architects demand strict enforcement of building regulations
Disturbed by recurring cases of building collapses, the Kano State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Architects has called for strict enforcement of building regulations.

States
Flooding: NEMA, KADSEMA search for missing persons in Kaduna River
NEMA and KADSEMA have launched a search-and-rescue operation for two persons swept away by floodwaters in the Kaduna River.

States
Police rescue 15 cows, one Katsina resident from bandits
The police command in Katsina says it has foiled kidnap and cattle rustling attempts in Funtua and Musawa council areas, rescuing one kidnap victim and recovering 15 rustled cows.

Agriculture
Farmers seek subsidised farm inputs to boost food production in Taraba
The farmers said the high cost and limited availability of fertilisers and other essential farm inputs had become major constraints as the rainy season commenced.

Politics
Kaduna: 12,000 people defect to APC in Lere LG
Twelve thousand members of opposition political parties have defected to the All Progressives Congress in the Lere council area of Kaduna.





