Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

AFGHANISTAN

Two Swedes killed in Afghanistan

Two Swedish military officers and a local interpreter were killed on Sunday when their unit came under fire west of Mazar-e Sharif in Afghanistan.

Published: 7 February 2010 16:33 CET

A Swedish soldier was also injured in the attack and was taken to a field hospital located at Camp Marmal, home of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Regional Command for the north of Afghanistan, according to the Swedish military, which is now working to notify relatives of the soldiers involved.

The Swedish officers, a captain and a lieutenant, and the interpreter were killed in an ambush 40-50 kilometres west of the Swedish army base, in an area where Swedish and Finnish peace-keepers confiscated 70 kilogrammes of narcotics and a quantity of explosives earlier in the week.

It was also the same area in which five Swedish soldiers were injured in a roadside bomb explosion in November.

Swedish forces have been operating in Afghanistan since 2002.

The Swedish ISAF-led force (FS18) is based in Mazar-e Sharif, 400 kilometres northwest of Kabul.

ISAF is a NATO-led security and development mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council in 2001. The base is home to Swedish and Finnish peacekeeping forces.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

SHOW COMMENTS