Ukraine evacuated over 700 people from Afghanistan – MP Umerov

30.09.2021 14:44

Ukrinform

Ukraine has helped more than 700 people leave Afghanistan, according to Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE.

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, he said this in Strasbourg on Thursday, September 30, thanking service members from Ukraine and other countries who took part in the evacuation.

"Ukraine has helped more than 700 people leave Afghanistan. I want to thank every serviceman from Ukraine and other countries who took part in the evacuation operation. But this is not the end and the worst may be yet to come. The EU and the PACE need to draw the attention of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to the importance of including this issue [in the agenda] for the development of further recommendations," Umerov said.

He also noted that the humanitarian impact on Europe, given the growth of migrants from Afghanistan. Therefore, the EU must develop a step-by-step plan to support migrants, he said.

Umerov also noted that another threat is that Afghanistan played a major role in the development of al-Qaeda and many fear that Afghanistan could once again become such a haven for terrorism.

"This risk is growing and we need to discuss the possibility of creating mechanisms to help regulate and prevent threats," he said.

Oleksiy Honcharenko, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE, in turn, said in his speech during the urgent PACE debate on the situation in Afghanistan, that Ukraine did not stay aside, but helped evacuate people from the most dangerous places in Kabul. Speaking about the situation in Afghanistan, he also mentioned the issue of migration pressure on the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland with Belarus.

"One of the biggest challenges related to Afghanistan is the flow of migrants and we have seen how the Lukashenko regime uses migrants as a weapon on the borders with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland and this is also a problem. [...] We cannot just hide in our country from all international problems and say that we will deal only with internal problems. We must be strong. We must be ready to react to any hostile acts," he said.