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AFGHANISTAN

Swedish soldiers in Afghanistan firefight

For the second night running Swedish soldiers have been in the firing line in Afghanistan. The soldiers were on night patrol west of Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday night when they became involved in a firefight.

Published: 8 November 2008 12:39 CET

Soldiers from the Swedish FS 15 contingent in Mazar-i-Sharif became involved in an exchange of fire as they conducted a night patrol in the Aqcha district west of Mazar-i-Sharif.

A group of around ten soldiers from the Nato Isaf force were involved. No Swedish casualties were reported, according to Simon Rothstein of the Swedish defence forces.

Rothstein confirmed that the troops were undertaking a military patrol.

“It was a planned military operation,” he said.

Swedish soldiers are engaged on Saturday with delivering medicine and hospital equipment to a clinic in Aqcha.

This is the second consecutive night that Swedish soldiers have come under enemy fire. On Thursday night Swedish soldiers patrolling together with Afghani police came under fire near the town of Shebergan, south-west of Aqcha. The soldiers returned fire but no casualties have been reported.

AFGHANISTAN

Spain starts evacuating Afghan employees via Pakistan

Spain was on Monday evacuating via Pakistan Afghan helpers left behind when western forces quit Kabul, a government source confirmed on condition of anonymity.

Published: 11 October 2021 15:58 CEST
A group of Afghan nationals stand on the tarmac after disembarking from the last Spanish evacuation flight at the Torrejon de Ardoz air base near Madrid in August. Photo: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP)
A group of Afghan nationals stand on the tarmac after disembarking from the last Spanish evacuation flight at the Torrejon de Ardoz air base near Madrid in August. Photo: PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP)

The government source declined to give any details of the move, citing security concerns.

But Spanish media, including daily El País and National Radio, reported that Madrid would bring close to 250 Afghan citizens, who had already crossed into Pakistan and would be flown out on military transport planes.

The first flight was expected to arrive on Monday evening.

Spain’s evacuations have been weeks in the making, with Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares visiting Pakistan and Qatar in early September to lay the groundwork.

Madrid evacuated over 2,000 people, most of them Afghans who had worked for Spain and their families, during the western withdrawal as the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August.

But the flights had to stop once the final American troops that had been protecting the Afghan capital’s airport left.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in August that Spain would not “lose interest in the Afghans who had remained” in their country but wanted to leave.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, on Friday urged the bloc’s member states to host a “minimum” of between 10,000 and 20,000 more Afghan refugees.

“To welcome them, we have to evacuate them, and we’re getting down to it, but it’s not easy,” he said in Madrid.

The EU has said a demand by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to take in 42,500 Afghan refugees over five years can be achieved — although any decision lies with member states.

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