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Afghan evacuees arrive in Poland

04.09.2021 08:30
A group of Afghan evacuees arrived in the Polish city of Poznań on Saturday, as Poland has agreed to admit 500 Afghan nationals for a period of three months as a gesture of solidarity with its allies.
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The group comprises people who worked with NATO during its 20-year mission in Afghanistan, Michał Dworczyk, a top aide to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters on Friday.

They are to be transported to a hospital for a 10-day covid-19 quarnantine.

Fifty of them are set to stay in Poland, while the rest will head to other destinations over the next quarter, he added.

After the United States announced its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the hardline Islamist group the Taliban swept across the country and captured the capital Kabul last month.

NATO and EU countries have since evacuated their staff and many local allies from the Afghan capital.

In a week-long military-civilian evacuation operation, Poland airlifted a total of 1,232 people out of Afghanistan through neighbouring Uzbekistan, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau told a news conference this week.

In addition to helping several hundred of its Afghan associates, Warsaw also evacuated people who worked with allied countries and international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, according to officials.

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Source: PAP