– The situation is difficult. Especially when we look at our allies, who must have a lot of people in the coming days, the hourglass runs out, says Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen (S).
U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that it may be appropriate for U.S. troops to stay longer in Afghanistan than until the end of August. This will happen if we do not succeed in evacuating all American citizens beforehand.
On Saturday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell told the AFP news agency that it was “mathematically impossible” to evacuate all the many Afghans who have worked for the EU, NATO or other foreign institutions as well as their families by 31 August.
Peter Viggo Jakobsen, professor at the Defense Academy’s Department of Strategy and War Studies, believes that “it is really smart politically to go out in a group and put pressure on the Taliban”.
– All the western countries, including Denmark, are frustrated that the agreements we have entered into with the Taliban are not being complied with.
– There was, for example, a Danish agreement with the Taliban that if you just showed your Danish passport on the way out to the airport (in Kabul, ed.), Then you were allowed to escape.
– As has been reported during the week, there were Danes or Danish-Afghans with Danish passports who were not allowed to get through these checkpoints or roadblocks. It does not work, so it is also the Taliban’s fault that it is going too slowly, he says.
Peter Viggo Jakobsen points out that there may be disagreement within the Taliban about whether some people, who in the eyes of certain Taliban are traitors, should be allowed to leave the country after the Taliban took power.
But it could also be part of a carefully planned strategy for the Taliban to delay the evacuations.
– It may be an attempt to put pressure on the West and say that “if you want your citizens, then we want something in return”.
– The United States has frozen many Afghan billions. It could be an attempt by the Taliban to pressure the West to make some concessions of a different nature, he says.
Minister of Defense Trine Bramsen cannot give a clear answer as to whether it is realistic to have time to evacuate everyone by 31 August.
– We do everything that is in our power at all, she says.
On Sunday, a plane with 131 passengers landed in Copenhagen, including 90 evacuated people, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod (S) stated on Twitter.
The plane also had government officials with it, as well as people whom Denmark has helped Sweden and Iceland to evacuate.
Denmark is evacuating, among others, Afghans who have worked for the Danish embassy, โโas well as their immediate family.