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AFGHANISTAN

Swedish officer badly hurt in Afghanistan

A Swedish officer and two Finnish soldiers were seriously injured when their vehicle was shot with a rocket launcher in Afghanistan, according to a Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten) statement.

Swedish officer badly hurt in Afghanistan

The Swedish-Finnish patrol was operating on the main road from Mazar-e-Sharif and Sheberghan when their came under attack.

“The injured first received help from their colleagues and were then transported by US ambulance helicopter to the German military hospital in Marmal,” the statement said.

The attack took place 45 kilometres west of Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, where the Swedish troops are stationed. The weapon used in the attack was an rocket-propelled grenade launcher (RPG).

Reinforcement in the form of air and ground units were sent to the location.

The injured Swedish officer is reported to be from Norrbotten in the north of Sweden and his close relatives have been informed.

Sweden has around 500 troops in Afghanistan. Thus far five Swedish soldiers have died, as well as a Norwegian with dual Swedish citizenship, and an Afghan interpreter employed by the Swedish forces.

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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.

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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