A palpable panic. France is currently “doing everything possible to ensure the safety of the French” still in Afghanistan, its “top priority”, and Emmanuel Macron “is monitoring the very worrying deterioration of the situation hour by hour,” the Elysee said, while the Taliban are at the gates of Kabul.
“The immediate and absolute priority in the next few hours is the safety of the French, who have been called to leave Afghanistan, as well as the personnel there, French and Afghan,” Elysee told AFP. “These operations, which concern several hundred people, have been carried out in recent weeks and continue,” said the Elysee.
“France is one of the few countries that has maintained on the ground the capabilities to protect Afghans working for the French army, as well as particularly threatened Afghan journalists, human rights activists, artists and personalities,” adds the Presidency. “The French present in Afghanistan were invited from April 2021 to leave the country and had the opportunity to take a flight organized on July 16 by the French authorities to facilitate this departure,” said the Quai d’Orsay on Friday.
On Friday, Paris had also promised “an exceptional effort” to receive in France Afghan personalities threatened by their commitment to human rights or freedom of expression: artists, journalists and human rights defenders. Paris needs to have organized since May the reception of 625 Afghans employed in the French structures present in Afghanistan and their families.
France, which in recent years has turned to locally recruited civilians to help its staff on site, in particular interpreters, has already organized the reception of 550 people with their families between 2013 and 2015 and 800 in 2018 and 2019, specifies the Elysium. And like other European countries, France has since July suspended the expulsions of Afghan migrants who have rejected their asylum applications.
The Taliban launched a major offensive against Afghan forces in early May, following operations to withdraw international forces from Afghanistan. They are now at the gates of Kabul, having captured most of the northern half of the country in a few days. His fighters have been ordered not to enter the capital, while the government prepares for a peaceful transition.