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Poland to admit 500 Afghan evacuees for 3 months: PM's top aide

03.09.2021 12:30
Poland has agreed to admit 500 Afghan nationals for a period of three months as a gesture of solidarity with its allies, Michał Dworczyk, a top aide to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, said on Friday.
Michał Dworczyk
Michał DworczykPAP/Wojciech Olkuśnik

The group comprises people who worked with NATO during its 20-year mission in Afghanistan, Dworczyk told reporters.

Fifty of them are set to stay in Poland, while the rest will head to other destinations over the next quarter, he added.

The first part of the group was scheduled to arrive in Poznań, western Poland, later in the day, "while the others are going to follow during the next several days, and will be provided with accommodation" in Poznań and the eastern city of Lublin, Dworczyk also said.

Some 250 Afghans were expected to arrive in Poland on Friday from the US Air Force's Ramstein Base in Germany, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

After the United States announced its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the hardline Islamist group the Taliban swept across the country and captured the capital Kabul last month.

NATO and EU countries have since evacuated their staff and many local allies from the Afghan capital.

In a week-long military-civilian evacuation operation, Poland airlifted a total of 1,232 people out of Afghanistan through neighbouring Uzbekistan, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau told a news conference this week.

In addition to helping several hundred of its Afghan associates, Warsaw also evacuated people who worked with allied countries and international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, according to officials.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP