The former guard of the Finnish Embassy in Kabul told Yle News that a number of guards who had served to protect the embassy and the ambassador’s apartment staged a demonstration on Saturday after it became clear that they had little hope of evacuating Finland.
The guard said they gathered in Kabul’s courtyard holding printed Finnish flags and photocopies of their ID cards and demanded that Finland help them more after working at the embassy, in some cases for years.
Yle does not recognize the guard because he fears revenge on the Taliban.
"They left us here," the guard said through the instant messaging service and explained that he had acted as a security for the Finnish embassy.
Yle has seen letters of reference in which he thanked him for his performance when he worked as a “static guard,” a guard who protected real estate used by Finnish diplomats.
The guard sent a statement to Yle from his colleagues who took part in the demonstration.
"Finland is one of the countries that left dozens of workers who worked for them for several years and played the life of Finnish diplomats for the last two decades, but it is time to save their lives and their families." the guards’ statement said.
The guard said he and his colleagues had not been paid for their work until August 14, when they were told they no longer had jobs when the Taliban arrived in Kabul.
The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs had subcontracted the security of the embassy to a Finnish company, which in turn subcontracted it to the Afghan Tahiri Protections Risk Management Consulting.
Foreign minister Pekka Haavisto (Green) announced on Tuesday that some Tahir workers were eligible for evacuation.
Yle sources said this list included embassy escorts, representing about a third of the security staff employed by the embassy.
As a result, about 40 guards are stuck under Taliban rule in Kabul.
Guard Yle said Tahiri had kept his hopes on the evacuation list all week, but the company eventually told them that they would not be paid and that evacuation was not possible.
The guard said he was now facing financial difficulties as food prices rose in Kabul.
Yle has asked the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs why these guards were not on the evacuation list, why their salaries had not been paid and whether they have a contractual notice period. Yle also asked a Finnish company that had a security agreement if the guards who left for Kabul would be paid their August salaries, but had not received a reply by the time of publication.
At a press conference on Saturday, Haavisto was asked about the guards at the Finnish Embassy who were not on the Finnish evacuation list.
"The government has tried to limit the evacuation list to persons who had an employment relationship with Finland. These are people who worked in a prominent role at the embassy – that is, the Finnish flag on the sleeve. At this time, we can’t comment on other people’s situation," he said
The foreign minister said that the last group of 83 people was evacuated on Friday night after the departure of the Finnish military due to an agreement with US forces at Kabul airport. He said they had spent two and a half days on the bus at the airport gates through a terrorist attack on Thursday night before they finally escaped.
Source: The Nordic Page