EU says 106 staff members evacuated, more behind

The European Union said Thursday that 106 staff members of EU delegations and their families had safely left Afghanistan but said that some 300 still remained behind. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Thursday that the first plane with EU staff had landed in Madrid, from where they will be relocated among the 27 EU member states.

“There are still 300 more Afghani staff of European Union delegations blocked on the streets of Kabul trying to reach the airport and trying to have a seat on some of the European Union member state flights,” Borrell told a EU parliament committee.

He insisted that “these people have loyally promoted and defended the union's interests and values in Afghanistan over many years,” adding that it was the EU's “moral duty to protect them and to have to save as many people as possible.”