Gov’t to evacuate 9 Kenyans stranded in Afghanistan

The Kenyan government is working to evacuate nine Kenyans currently stranded in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover after America withdrew its forces after 20 years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it is working closely with the Kenya High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan, to gather information on any Kenyans who may be stranded in the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement released on Thursday said that, despite the fact that Kenya has no diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, the safety of Kenyans is of paramount importance to the Kenyan government.

The government has established that roughly 12 Kenyans were working for various international organizations in the country. Three Kenyans have since been rescued.

“Through diplomatic channels the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to the concerned organizations with a clear request to evacuate stranded Kenyans as a matter of urgency,” the statement issued on Thursday says.

“One (1) working for the International Development Law Organization (IDLO) arrived back to Kenya on Wednesday, while (2) working for Action Contre la Faim (ACF) have been evacuated,”  the Ministry added.

The two are expected to arrive in the country on Thursday.

According to the statement, the government has also contacted respective foreign missions in Nairobi, where the organizations are based, to intercede promptly to enable the safe evacuation of Kenyans.

The Swedish Committee, the World Bank’s Supreme Audit Office, and Action Contre La Faim all had two Kenyan employee according to the statement. 

The Handicap International (HI), Intersos, Medair,International Development Law Organization (IDLO) Danish Committee for Aid to Afghanistan Refugees and the International Rescue Committee had one Kenyan employee each.

The government has also directed two other Kenyan missions in Beijing and Tehran to reach out to host governments, foreign diplomatic missions, Kenyan partners, and friends for assistance in evacuating any stranded Kenyans to safety.

Meanwhile, military flights evacuating diplomats and civilians from Afghanistan resumed early on Tuesday after the runway at Kabul airport was cleared of thousands of people desperate to flee after the Taliban seized the capital.

The number of civilians at the airport had thinned out, a Western security official at the facility told Reuters, a day after chaotic scenes in which U.S. troops fired to disperse crowds and people clung to a U.S. military transport plane as it taxied for take-off.

U.S. forces took charge of the airport, their only way to fly out of the country, on Sunday, as the militants were winding up a dramatic week of advances across the country with their takeover of the capital without a fight.

Flights were suspended flights for much of Monday, when at least five people were killed, witnesses said, although it was unclear whether they had been shot or crushed in a stampede.