Wopke Hoekstra, the Netherlands foreign minister, said that 189 people have been waiting in Afghanistan to be transferred to the Netherlands. Hoekstra said that these people are the ones who have worked for the Netherlands.
According to him, since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban on August 15, 2021, 2,551 Afghan refugees have been transferred from Pakistan to the Netherlands.
Hoekstra added that those who remain in Afghanistan have been unable to travel to Pakistan or have not been able to leave the country due to financial problems.
After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, thousands of people left Afghanistan for Pakistan. Many of them have been transferred to Canada and European countries so far.
For a short time, Pakistan had facilitated the travel of Afghan citizens without passports too.
The Netherlands foreign minister expressed his regret that the route to Pakistan is closed for Afghans who don’t hold passports.
He advised Afghan families to get passports and stressed that his government will remain in touch with those left behind inside Afghanistan.
The Dutch Foreign Minister emphasised that they are trying to evacuate people with passports by November 1, 2022.
