According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland has evacuated about 50 new people from Afghanistan.
The ministry said in a statement issued on Friday that 37 of the evacuees arrived in Finland on Thursday night. About 10 other people have been evacuated from Afghanistan and will arrive in Finland in the coming weeks.
The group that arrived on Thursday included former employees of the Finnish Embassy in Kabul and their family members. In addition, the group included Finnish citizens or foreign permanent residents subject to the Consular Services Act.
The evacuated passengers traveled last week from Afghanistan to Pakistan and from there to Germany via Germany, the ministry said. The evacuation operation was carried out jointly by the Ministry’s consular mission and the Pakistani authorities. Also present were members of the German, Dutch and Nordic missions in Islamabad, who were also evacuating embassy staff via Pakistan.
In August, the government made three separate decisions to evacuate a total of 298 people from Afghanistan to Finland.
According to the ministry, evacuation work is continuing because there are still people in Afghanistan who need and are entitled to consular assistance.