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AFGHANISTAN

Liberals push for more Afghanistan troops

The Liberal Party (Folkpartiet) has argued that the Swedish contingent in Afghanistan is understaffed and wants the force to be strengthened by a further 100 soldiers.

Published: 12 February 2010 07:29 CET
Liberals push for more Afghanistan troops

“The force is understaffed,” Liberal Party defence spokesperson Allan Widman said to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

The Swedish parliament decided in the autumn to increase the force from 390 to 500 soldiers. When the mandate for the FS18 contingent expires in the autumn, the Liberal Party wants a larger force to replace them.

Allan Widman pointed out that a large part of the area that the Swedish forces are supposed to take responsibility for is almost never visited by any soldiers. 500 Swedish and 93 Finnish soldiers are tasked with securing an area the size of the Baltic island of Gotland.

The Liberal Party is part of the government coalition and as such supports the existing defence budget and the decision over how large an international force Sweden should maintain.

The Defence Minister Sten Tolgfors explained to the newspaper that an increase in the Afghanistan force is not currently planned.

“It is not currently on the cards. But it is the nature of international deployment to always adapt to the situation. That we did by increasing the force from 390 to 500 just before Christmas,” Tolgfors said.

Swedish forces have been encouraged to mix with the local population in a more informal manner. The practice of removing helmets and driving around in open jeeps has been criticized for exposing the troops to extra risk.

Tolgfors defended the practice, telling the newspaper that in the longer term it is safer.

“You can only win Afghanistan if you win over the civilians,” he said.

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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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