Thursday, September 02, 2021
Former EUPOL employees complain
EU local activists “fall from the rust”
The former head of personnel of the EU’s police mission in Afghanistan accused the EU of not properly caring for its local staff. Many are still in Kabul, she says. Nobody feels responsible.
EU police mission EUPOL and former Greens employees in the European Parliament accused Brussels of failing to protect Afghan local workers from the EU. “Our local workers fall through the rust, simply because no one declares their responsibility and says Brussels: we can’t act because we can’t issue visas,” says Human Resources at EUPOL in Afghanistan and former head of administration Andrea Thiess, who is known as the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
“Currently there are 60 and 80 Afghan former EUPOL employees in Kabul who have neither announced admission, confirmation or any other support from the European Union,” Thies said. “We must not let these people down, the European Union is also responsible for its Afghan employees.” Only the Netherlands took on 35 Afghan EU local staff after a former prosecutor general and EUPOL trainer put pressure on the government in The Hague, Thies reported.
Former EUPOL employees have named several local employees to the European Union who were waiting to be rescued in Kabul before the overthrow of the Afghan government. “Our team, together with our local employees in Kabul, compiled a list that included 131 names as of early August. This included all local workers who were still living in Kabul and who were already at risk during this period. “
Not only EUPOL local workers still in Kabul
Green MEP Sven Giegold called on EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to make the evacuation of Afghan local workers from EU missions a “top priority”. It is also about former employees of the EU delegation and the European aid program ECHO. Giegold estimates that all local employees and their immediate family members number 600, of which only a small portion can be evicted. Gigold said it was “pathetic” that the EU Commission and member states were still taking responsibility for local staff.
The US on Monday withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan. It also ended the international evacuation mission. After the Taliban came to power in Kabul, US forces initially continued to secure the airport in Kabul. After this, Islamists took control of the airport on Tuesday night.
