Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said in a media interview on August 24th local time that international forces, including the Spanish military, were considering an evacuation operation outside Kabul airport in the Afghan capital to evacuate Afghan partners who could not reach the airport. Robles also acknowledged that the operation was extremely difficult to implement because it was not possible to operate outside Kabul airport at this stage.
The Spanish government has ordered the dispatch of a special operations team to reinforce the task of evacuating collaborators from Kabul airport, sources said Wednesday. Defense Minister Robert Robles said Spain would make every effort to withdraw its partners from Afghanistan, but some of them were expected to remain.
Spain’s Military Camp Torrejon has received 815 Afghans arriving on national aircraft or by EU External Operations agency since August 19, with 354 expressing interest in applying for international protection in Spain, according to figures from Spain’s Interior Ministry.
