Taoiseach ‘deeply concerned’ about events in Afghanistan

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he is "deeply concerned" about the unfolding situation in Afghanistan.

Senior US military officials said on Monday that events at the airport in Kabul on Monday morning left seven people dead, including some who fell from a departing US military transport jet.

Afghans rushed onto the tarmac of the capital’s airport as thousands tried to flee the country after the Taliban seized power with stunning speed.

In a statement on Monday, Mr Martin said: “The pace of developments there has taken many by surprise. I fully endorse the call from UN Secretary General António Guterres for the Taliban to exercise the utmost restraint,” said the Taoiseach.

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“Protecting lives, meeting humanitarian needs and respecting people’s human rights are paramount.”

Mr Martin said that all parties, including the Taliban, must respect international humanitarian law.

"The international community must play its full part in providing humanitarian aid and facilitating refugees. Ireland will participate fully in these efforts."

The three departments of foreign affairs, justice, and children are holding discussions on Monday about Ireland’s capacity to respond to the situation.

"The UN Security Council, of which Ireland is currently a member, is meeting this afternoon. And a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council will take place tomorrow.

“We are also providing support to the small number of Irish citizens currently in Afghanistan.”

Mr Martin said he is in "continuous contact with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, and will continue to monitor the situation closely over the coming days."

Irish nationals

Mr Coveney has said his department is working on plans to get 15 Irish nationals out of Afghanistan.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Coveney said that there were 23 Irish nationals - some with dual nationality - in Afghanistan, 15 of whom wanted to leave.

Most had been booked on commercial flights, but all commercial flights into and out of Kabul airport have been halted so efforts were now being made to coordinate with other EU countries, the US and the UK to try to find routes out for the Irish nationals.

Mr Coveney, who appeared on both Newstalk Breakfast and RTÉ's Morning Ireland, also said that Ireland had agreed to waive visas for 45 citizens escaping Afghanistan, some of whom were already in Pakistan.

Ireland has also agreed to take another 100 to 150 refugees, he added. “We will be prioritising human rights workers, media workers and women and girls, the vulnerable.”

The Minister said he suspected that Ireland would have to do more. “Those numbers are very small.”

The UN Security Council, of which Ireland is a member, will meet in an emergency session in New York on Monday at 10am local time, said Mr Coveney. The focus will be humanitarian, to secure a safe exit for foreign nationals and as many Afghans who worked with them. “It’s about managing a chaotic situation.”

There would be hundreds of thousands , possibly even millions of people who would flee to neighbouring countries and the UN would have to support them, he said.

“This is a foreign policy catastrophe, the likes of which hasn’t been seen in decades.”

Speaking at the United Nations Security Council in New York, Ireland’s UN ambassador Geraldine Byrne-Nason said she wished to address the women of Afghanistan directly.

“Women of Afghanistan we hear you and we hear your pleas to the international community at this time,” she said.

She said that their sense of betrayal was “understood . . . it is righteous”.

“I call on this council to stand for the women of Afghanistan. Their rights and their future participation in Afghan society cannot be sacrificed. This is our shared responsibility at this table,” Ms Byrne-Nason told the meeting.

She said that the rights of women in Afghanistan must be a “non-negotiable principle” in any talks with the Taliban, and expressed scepticism about the pledges by the Taliban to protect women, citing reports of “summary executions, forced marriages and of sexual and gender-based violence”.

“Girls must be free to attend school, women must be able to participate fully in society and those who speak up for human rights must be free to do so,” Ms Byrne-Nason said.

‘Horrified’

Earlier on Monday, Minister of State at the Department of Justice James Browne said he is “horrified” by the situation in Afghanistan.

“My heart goes out to its people. Especially the women and girls who will be most brutally affected by the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban forces.

“As of today, I can say that we will be processing humanitarian visas for approximately 150 Afghan people, including those who have worked for the EU in Afghanistan and family members of Irish citizens,” he said.

“My Department and I are committed to working closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to respond to this unfolding situation, and to assist you in any way that we can.”