Tbilisi airport used as way station in evacuation of people from Kabul
Afghan people sit as they wait to leave the Kabul airport after thousands mobbed the facility trying to flee. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP.
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Tbilisi International Airport is being used as a way station by evacuation flights of the NATO Military Transportation Organisation, which is running daily flights to Kabul and back, the Georgian government reports.
The Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital on August 15.
From Tbilisi, passengers evacuated from Kabul are being transported abroad via various charter flights. Up to 2,000 individuals have been evacuated so far via Georgian territory,” said the statement.
The Georgian government says that a regional transit hub has been set up at Tbilisi International Airport and at the Georgian Defense Forces military base near the airport with the participation of Georgian, Norwegian and Swedish servicemen, as well as military and civilian personnel from several NATO member states.
A transit medical aid point was also set up by the Norwegian Armed Forces on the territory of the military base, which, if necessary, will be used during the evacuation of the Norwegian military hospital in Kabul,” said the Georgian government.
Various international organisations evacuating staff and other individuals from Kabul have requested Georgia’s assistance in the effort as well.
Georgian soldiers began leaving Afghanistan starting May 2021, after an agreement between the US and Taliban back in 2020. Photo: Defence Ministry press office.
Georgia has accepted the request of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the International Republican Institute (IRI), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) to assist in evacuating their staff and allow their temporary presence on Georgian territory,” said the government.
Georgia has been involved in NATO-led peace ISAF and Resolute Support mission operations in Afghanistan since 2004.
We have been one of the major contributors to the NATO Resolute support Mission (with 870 soldiers) over the past 10 years and Georgian soldiers were participating in very complicated operations. Georgia, as a country striving for NATO membership, has proven that we are able to worthily take the responsibility of collective defence and be the supporter of international peace,” said the statement.
The government said that Georgian territory was also used when NATO forces were leaving Afghanistan earlier this year.
860 Georgian soldiers will start leaving Afghanistan in May as the US and NATO will begin withdrawing their troops from the country after two decades of war.NATO allies agreed on Wednesday, according to US plans, to start removing troops by May 1.The pull-out is to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US by jihadist organization al-Qaida.
In the latest round of peacekeeping duties for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, the 32nd Infantry Battalion of the Georgian Defence Forces left Tbilisi on Wednesday to relieve their colleagues in Bagram.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry and the administration of the government of Georgia are working in coordination to ensure the safe return of several Georgian citizens who are now in Afghanistan, after the Taliban seized control of Kabul yesterday and crowds are trying to flee the country. The Georgian Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the Georgian citizens, who were contract employees in Afghanistan, contacted them yesterday and ‘we have instantly begun taking actions to help them.’
The last remaining Georgian troops in NATO's Resolute Support peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan began their drawdown on Monday, with the 32nd Battalion of the Georgian Defence Forces set to return to the homeland in phases.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani stated earlier today that Russian agencies are distributing disinformation in claiming that Georgia is taking in Afghan refugees, amid the country’s involvement in the evacuation process from Afghanistan.
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva has sent a letter to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in which she offers 'deepest gratitude' on behalf of the IMF and its staff for Georgia's assistance in the 'safe and swift' evacuation of fund personnel and their families from Afghanistan.
Georgian President Salome Zurabshvili 'strongly condemns' the terrorist attack outside Kabul's airport in Afghanistan, where 13 US service members and at least 60 Afghans have been killed. Two bombing attacks took place in Kabul yesterday, reports the Pentagon and Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health.
Georgia has sent drinking water supplies for people who are at the airport of Kabul in Afghanistan as humanitarian aid, announces the government of Georgia. Deputy Head of the Administration of the Government of Georgia Revaz Javelidze said that Georgia stands by its international partners and is involved in both humanitarian and evacuation processes.
The NATO Secretary General's newly appointed Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, Javier Colomina, has met with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili earlier today in Tbilisi and vowed that his tenure will see NATO-Georgia relations deepen even further. Garibashvili and Colomina have discussed NATO’s open-door policy, prospects for Georgia’s integration into the alliance and praised the country’s reforms in defense and the strengthening of democratic institutions.
US State Secretary Antony Blinken has thanked Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani for Georgia’s contribution to peacekeeping missions in Afghanistan, the Georgian Foreign Ministry reports.