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Japan to send SDF planes to Afghanistan for evacuations
Up to several hundred people will be evacuated in the mission, a diplomatic source said. It will be the first time the SDF has evacuated foreign nationals from a country, according to the Defense Ministry.
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This handout picture released and taken by the Italian Defense press office on August 22, 2021 shows soldiers on the tarmac past passengers, who fled Afghanistan, waiting to board on an Italian military aircraft at Kabul airport, to fly to Rome Fiumicino. (AFP/Italian Defense Ministry)
J
apan will dispatch three Self-Defense Forces planes to Afghanistan to evacuate Japanese nationals and local staff working for the Japanese Embassy there and other organizations amid the political crisis after the Taliban militant took a grip on the country, the top government spokesman said Monday.
Up to several hundred people will be evacuated in the mission, a diplomatic source said. It will be the first time the SDF has evacuated foreign nationals from a country, according to the Defense Ministry.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said the government will send one C-2 transport aircraft on Monday and two C-130s on Tuesday.
"Securing the safety of Japanese people (in Afghanistan) is our top priority, and we also deem it important to secure the safety of local staff of the embassy and JICA remaining there as they include those who wish to leave the country," Kato said.
But there remains a question of safety as evacuees will have to go to the Kabul airport.
Read also: US orders American airlines to aid Afghan evacuation
A firefight broke out at one of the gates of the international airport early Monday and an Afghan security force soldier was killed by "unknown attackers," The Associated Press reported citing German officials, as people are trying to flee the country in a chaotic exodus.
On Saturday, the United States told its citizens in Afghanistan to avoid traveling to the airport.
The three SDF aircraft will initially stand by at an airport in a third country near Afghanistan, the ministry said. As soon as coordination is made with the US force in Afghanistan, which has taken control of the airport, two C-130 transport planes will make round trips for evacuations.
The third aircraft, a C-2 plane, is expected to leave Japan as early as Monday evening carrying equipment, supplies and hundreds of personnel from the Ground and Air Self-Defense forces. Most of the staff will be based in the third country, according to the ministry.
The ministry declined to name the country, saying it has not yet been given approval to do so.
As for the duration of the operation, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said he expects it to continue until the end of the month, when the United States plans to pull its military out from Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will join a Group of Seven nations' online summit to be held on Tuesday over the situation in Afghanistan, Kato added.
Japanese diplomats were evacuated to Dubai last Tuesday after the embassy in the capital Kabul was shut on Aug. 15, with the Taliban regaining control of the country 20 years after it was ousted from power by US-led forces, but some Japanese working for international organizations remain there.
Read also: Dozens of evacuees from Afghanistan arrive in Jakarta
There are also believed to be dozens of local staff for the embassy as well as the Japan International Cooperation Agency and other Japanese organizations yet to be evacuated. A Defense Ministry advance team has departed for Afghanistan to gather information for the mission.
Other countries, such as the United States and Britain, have been evacuating their nationals and local staff via their military aircraft.
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party criticized the decision to evacuate Japanese Embassy staff via a British military airplane last week, saying an SDF plane should have been dispatched instead.
In 2016, an ASDF transport aircraft was dispatched to South Sudan amid a deteriorating security situation to evacuate Japanese Embassy staff to a neighboring country.
