As the pace of evacuations from Afghanistan accelerates after the Taliban took Kabul, one of the five Afghans under surveillance since arriving in France has been taken into custody, Tuesday (August 24th) reported. government spokesperson Gabriel Attal on BFM-TV. These five people had been the subject of an individual measure of administrative control and surveillance since Saturday. One of them, a 26-year-old young man, is suspected of having close ties to the Taliban.
The government spokesperson thus confirmed that one of the latter’s relatives had not respected his house arrest. He was consequently arrested in Paris and placed in police custody. It only came out ” a few minutes “ of the “Area that the DGSI had asked him to keep”, specified the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, on Franceinfo, ensuring that there ” To[vait] no flaws ” in the surveillance of Afghans evacuated to France.
The five Afghans arrived in France on Saturday, taking advantage of one of the rotations of the airlift established between Kabul airport and Paris. Of the 26-year-old suspected of having ties to the Taliban, Attal said: “This is an Afghan who helped evacuate French people, people who worked for France during the evacuation of the embassy, at a time that was incredibly tense, [et] which probably saved lives. ” His link with the Taliban remains ” to define “ added the government spokesperson. “He is today – he and his contacts – monitored by the DGSI, geolocated, and he has a certain number of obligations to keep”, also added Mr. Darmanin.
“Duty to welcome those who have helped France”
The spokesperson also recalled that checks were carried out by the external and internal services, before the evacuation of people, in Kabul, then before their transfer to France, in Abu Dhabi. Mr. Attal finally clarified that the “Security of the French prim[ait] “ on the reception of evacuees from Afghanistan. However, he believes that the latter remains a “Duty towards the people who have helped” France.
This weekend, 379 people, including 12 French and 363 Afghans, arrived in France. On Monday, a flight – the seventh – landed at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport with more than 250 people on board “Including 5 French and 246 Afghans”, said the interior ministry. Two new rotations should take place within twenty-four hours. To date, around 2,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since the address given by the President of the Republic on August 16.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has, moreover, set the end of the airlift for August 26, if the United States maintains the final withdrawal of its contingent from Afghanistan on August 31. “For us, in terms of “retro schedule”, that means that our operation ends Thursday evening. So we have three days left ”, thus explained the chief of staff of the minister, Nicolas Roche, to the Prime Minister Jean Castex, in the presence of journalists.