Slovakia should aid people who helped Slovak nationals in Afghanistan and also relatives of Afghans living in Slovakia, thinks President Zuzana Čaputová. If the evacuation of these people under the auspices of Slovakia fails, according to the Slovak president it is necessary to ask NATO allies to help evacuate them.
"We know that the situation is extraordinarily dire. Maybe these are the last hours left when the evacuation is still possible. There is a group of people who have undergone screening by Slovak authorities. We'll see whether any evacuation operation conducted by Slovakia takes place or at least ask our partners, other EU countries who are still evacuating other individuals, to extend help to these people as well," said the President.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OĽaNO) and Foreign and European Affairs Minister Ivan Korčok (SaS nominee) announced that Slovakia was continuing its rescue operation, aimed at evacuating from Afghanistan people with close ties to Slovakia. PM Heger explained that the life-saving transport should involve dozens of people from several groups.
"These are people who have a permanent residence in Slovakia and are temporarily in Afghanistan, there are 16 of them; then there are about 50 women and children with the right to family reunification, nine scholarship holders and 26 PhD students and students of Slovak universities," said the Slovak premier. He also stressed that the most difficult part of the mission is to get people in the chaos that reigns in Kabul onto a plane that will take them.
According to the Slovak foreign minister Ivan Korčok, the situation in Kabul is constantly changing and people are trying to get out of Afghanistan in any possible way. It is therefore too soon to identify the number of people who will be evacuated. Earlier this week, Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď (OLaNO) awarded military medals to several people, including the US ambassador to Slovakia, for their contributions to the evacuation of Slovak nationals, as well as Afghan citizens who cooperated with the Slovak Armed Forces, from Afghanistan.
