Poland has stopped airlift evacuations from Afghanistan amid safety concerns.
The Polish declaration came a few days before the Taliban‘s Aug. 31 deadline for evacuations comes to and end.
Poland’s deputy foreign minister Marcin Przydacz declared that a group of people taken from Kabul to Uzbekistan would be the last to be evacuated by Poland.
According to Przydacz, Poland made the decision after consultation with the US and the UK.
“After a long analysis of reports on the security situation we cannot risk the lives of our diplomats and of our soldiers any longer,” he said.
A dozen of Polish planes have managed to evacuate hundreds of people to the country over the past few days.
In addition to Poland, Germany also declared plan to evacuate 10,000 people from Afghanistan.
However, the Polish announcement follows increasing indications that the evacuation efforts may be rapidly winding down.
Several people who had fled already fear returning to the stringent Islamic law that the Taliban imposed 20 years ago.
Additionally, Western countries are discussing solutions for the situation in the Kabul airport as thousands of civilians gathered to flee.
Kabul has earlier urged all European countries including Poland in early July to halt forced deportations for the next three months.
Several countries haven’t said yet when they plan to end their operations, perhaps hoping to avoid yet another fatal crush at an airport that’s one of the last ways out of the country.
Taliban Refuses Evacuation Extension
However, the Taliban group considered the deadline for withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan a ‘red line.’
The group further warned of consequences if American boots remain on the ground beyond August 31.
There will be ‘consequences’ if they extend the deadline for US withdrawal from Afghanistan beyond August 31, the Taliban said.
A spokesperson for the Taliban, Suhail Shaheen, said the August 31 deadline for US withdrawal is a “red line”.
