The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs interpreters and aid workers that evacuations without a passport are not possible. In recent months, the same interpreters have been told that the passport issue is being worked on and that the Netherlands is committed to evacuating these people.
The passport requirement applies to all Afghans to be evacuated, from babies to adults. Many Afghans do not have a passport because recently it has been virtually impossible to apply for one or because they lost the passport during a previous attempted flight. Also, a large part of them was only told after the takeover by the Taliban that they were eligible for evacuation to the Netherlands. And since the Taliban are in power, it’s even harder to get a passport.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is completely beyond their control and that they are dependent on both the Taliban and countries such as Qatar and Pakistan, which also do not allow people without passports.
Interpreters and other Afghans who have assisted the Dutch in Afghanistan in recent years are at risk. Last month it became clear that one of the interpreters who was on the list to be evacuated to the Netherlands had been murdered by the Taliban. He never arrived where he was sent and was found to have been shot in the street.
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