Ireland: 11 more Irish citizens have left Afghanistan, says Foreign Minister

Simon Coveney, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ireland, has confirmed that another 11 Irish individuals and direct family members have been evacuated from Afghanistan and are currently residing in Doha after 36 Irish citizens and residents were relocated from Kabul last month. According to RTE News. In a statement last evening, Coveney said that the 11 people took a trip that was booked "through diplomatic procedures."

Coveney stated that the Department of Foreign Affairs has a presence in Qatar's capital and assists arrivals before their return to Ireland. According to the minister, the government continues to work with diplomatic partners to look at options for returning Irish people and their families from Afghanistan. He also stated that in the future term, coordination with key partners would continue.

Latest evacuations raise the total number of citizens to 47

When Ireland announced it was terminating its emergency mission in Kabul last month, a total of 36 Irish citizens and residents were relocated. At the time, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was aware of roughly 60 Irish residents in Afghanistan who needed assistance and were being helped remotely. The latest evacuations raise the total number of citizens and family members who have been evacuated from Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power to 47.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered yesterday at the GPO in Dublin to demonstrate against the Taliban dictatorship in Afghanistan. They urged the government not to recognise the Taliban's new administration and criticised the Taliban's record on women's rights. Many of the signs at the march at the GPO on Dublin's O'Connell Street condemned the Taliban's denial of women's rights. The majority of the demonstrators were from Ireland's Afghan minority, many of whom fled Afghanistan when the Taliban came to power in the 1990s.

Afghan women were stripped of their rights to freedom a week in 1994 by the Taliban

According to the reports of RTE News, Beshta Bakhshi, who moved to Ireland as a youngster when the Taliban first came to power in 1994, said that the women in Afghanistan had been stripped of their rights to education, freedom, and job in a week, further adding that they didn't have a government or any other support system to rely on.

Image: AP