More than 2,000 evacuated from Kabul so far

More than 2,200 diplomats and other civilians have so far been evacuated from Afghanistan on military flights, a Western security official told Reuters news agency on Wednesday.

Early this morning 131 people landed in Frankfurt. They had been evacuated from Kabul to the Uzbek capital of Tashkent, where they then boarded a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt chartered by the German government.

German airline Lufthansa said it would carry out more such flights in the next few days, said a Deutsche Welle report.

Separately, a Dutch C-17 transport plane departed Kabul with 40 people on board, said the country’s Ministry of Defense.

However, no Dutch or Afghans were said to be on board.

A Dutch Afghan citizen has described how his family tried to get to the airport but were barred from entry by US guards at one of the gates. The man had been visiting family with his wife and two children when the Taliban took over Kabul.

He told the Dutch public broadcaster NOS: ” The Americans [were] guarding the gate. I showed them my passport and said that I was Dutch. There was a lot of noise, I couldn’t hear very well everything the American was saying. After I said three times that I was Dutch, he said that I had to stand back or he would shoot. I decided to leave. I didn’t want to risk being shot.”

Agencies