France’s Embassy in Afghanistan called on its citizens to leave the country immediately over security concerns.
“The government will set up a special flight on the morning of July 17th, departing from Kabul, in order to allow the return to France of the entire French community,” the embassy said in a statement.
“The Embassy of France formally recommends to all French citizens to take this special flight or to leave the country immediately by their own means.”
This came as violence spread across Afghanistan after the US military prepared its withdrawal from Afghanistan by September 2021, a deadline set by US President Joe Biden to end America’s longest war.
Britain and Germany also declared a decision to withdraw troops from the country.
British Defense Minister said Britain was left with no choice after the US decided to pull out.
“The US decision had left Britain and other Nato allies in a very difficult position to continue that mission”, Ben Wallace said.
We are in a position that we too are in that path of withdrawal, with all the risks that may leave in the future, in the next ten to twenty years.”
In a tweet on his official account, German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also confirmed that the last German troops “left Afghanistan safely” on Tuesday evening.
The Defense Minister thanked the more than 150,000 troops who have served there since 2001 and said that “they can be proud of this mission.”
“A historic chapter is coming to an end, an intense deployment that was exacting for the Bundeswehr and marked it, in which the Bundeswehr proved itself in battle,” Kramp-Karrenbauer said.
A total of 150,000 German soldiers have served there since December 2001 when the German parliament first approved sending the military to Afghanistan.
Since then, fifty-nine German troops have died in Afghan missions.
