According to information given to our colleagues at RTL, the six residents have not yet managed to get past the barriers of the American military.
One of them, who has a Luxembourgish passport, was contacted by phone and explained that the problem was that the Taliban would not let the people through to the entrance of Kabul airport. And if you manage to avoid them anyway, you can't reach the American soldiers to show them your papers because of the crowd of people around the airport, he said.
He and the other Luxembourgers (including three children) are still in Kabul, and are in contact with the Luxembourgish authorities, but they told him that there is no one there to guide them. In his opinion, the only way to get into the airport would be for American soldiers to contact them directly and pick them up at a specific time at a specific place.
The Luxembourger still in Kabul told RTL that he would try everything to get back to Luxembourg. He told us how scared people are at the moment. He himself is afraid to go to the airport. He intended to try again on Friday evening.
Interviewed by RTL, the Minister of Defence, François Bausch, said that everything will be done to exfiltrate them. The Luxembourgish authorities are trying to help and guide the six Luxembourg residents in Kabul.
According to RTL information, a Luxembourgish pilot was on board the C-130 Hercules aircraft that flew from Islamabad to Kabul and back. A second flight could be planned for Friday for the Belgian-Luxembourg mission.
François Bausch says that it does not matter with which plane the Luxembourg residents will be evacuated. If they arrive in Islamabad, there will be no problem.
The Belgian government has chartered two A340s from Air Belgium to transport the returnees from Islamabad to Europe. Each of these planes can carry 269 passengers - the real challenge is getting people out of Kabul.
Luxembourg is currently trying to evacuate four Luxembourg nationals, two Afghans living in the Grand Duchy and fourteen Afghans who were working for NATO from Afghanistan.
The government council has convened for the first time since the end of July via video conference to discuss not only the Covid-19 situation, but also the situation in Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who had just announced being fully vaccinated on Thursday, has not been available for any interviews and remains silent about the international situation.
