15 Romanians and 5 Bulgarians arrived in Bucharest from Afghanistan
Articol de Radiojurnal, 22 August 2021, 03:11
15 Romanian citizens and 5 Bulgarians arrived yesterday in Bucharest from Afghanistan, with a Hercules plane of the Romanian Air Force.
At the air base in Otopeni, they were greeted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defense.
Minister Bogdan Aurescu assured that the Romanian authorities will continue their efforts to evacuate from Afghanistan the last Romanian who expressed his desire to leave.
One of the Romanians repatriated yesterday, who worked for a company in Kabul, said that he was stranded for several days in a former military base and that he arrived at the Afghan capital airport in a convoy together with 400 other Westerners and that the gates of the airport are being stormed by Afghan civilians trying to flee the country because of fear.
-: When the Taliban came to Kabul and occupied the city, it seemed impossible to extract anyone from there. I arrived at the airport with a convoy from the military base without any problems, together with 400 or so people of various nationalities. They welcomed me inside, then they divided us into planes and each person went to his own country. The KAIA gates are closed to protect American civilians and American soldiers from the entry of Afghan civilians into the territory of the base. They want to take planes in order to flee the country. Hundreds of people at each gate, trying to get in a plane and go anywhere but there. Afghans can only flee as refugees, but a government will have to accept them. Having no documents, no one will be able to receive them. Those who have papers from embassies can leave because they are registered and it is a process of sending them to the United States, England, Europe.
Host: In total, with the same military aircraft that arrived in Bucharest, 16 compatriots were evacuated from Afghanistan, as well as five Bulgarian citizens, one American and one British.
More than 30 Romanians left Afghanistan with vehicles of partner states, said Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu.
Translated by: Radu Matei
