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A possible deal between the Taliban and Turkey may allow the evacuation of Irish citizens to resume through Kabul airport in the near future, Irish officials hope.
Civilian evacuations by all countries have effectively ceased ahead of the final withdrawal of US forces from the airport on Tuesday. The Taliban has already started taking over areas of the airport vacated by the US.
The US is now concentrating on drawing down its own military and diplomatic staff. Most other countries evacuation missions have also withdrawn.
At present there are about 60 Irish nationals, and 15 Afghans who have Irish residency remaining in the country which fell to the Taliban two weeks ago.
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About 150 cases of family reunification have been prioritised by the Irish Government and 250 Afghans will come to Ireland under the refugee settlement programme.
It is understood some Irish-Afghan families are considering trying to drive out of the country, something Irish officials have recommended against.
The best hope for getting citizens out in the short to medium term is if Kabul airport reopens under the supervision of another country, sources say.
Turkey is in talks with the Taliban to take control of the airport and provide security which would allow commercial flights to resume. It is understood some damage has been caused to parts of the airport which would need to be repaired before civilian flights can resume.
Irish consular staff are in constant communication with stranded Irish citizens and residents, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said on Monday.
There had been "quite a number of successes" in getting people out of Afghanistan, including the family of an Afghan interpreter who worked with a Northern Ireland naval officer in Helmand province, he told RTÉ Radio.
Mr Coveney and Minister of State Roderic O'Gorman assisted North Down MP Stephen Farry who had been asked by Tim McCullough from Bangor, Co Down, for assistance in extracting the family of his interpreter who now lives in Australia.
The interpreter had been told he had one month to return to Afghanistan or his family would be killed. He contacted Mr McCullough, who approached Stephen Farry of the Alliance party who in turn got in touch with Simon Coveney.
The mother, brothers, sisters and a niece are expected to arrive in Ireland this week following efforts by both the Irish and British governments, with the Irish Government offering the family refugee status.
No guarantees
Mr Coveney said that there were no guarantees about anything in Afghanistan. The priority of the international community would be ensuring humanitarian aid access as half of the country’s 38 million population relied on humanitarian assistance, supplies of which have been effectively cut off recently.
The international community would hold the Taliban to account, he said, but he was not sure that any country trusted the Taliban “per se.”
More than 100 countries had joined forces to communicate to the Taliban that there would be serious consequences if they did not follow through on their statement about an inclusive government.
Nobody wanted to recognise the Taliban as an official government, but that did not mean there would not be communication with them to get people out and ensure the provision of much needed humanitarian aid, said Mr Coveney. “We will work with whoever we need to, to prevent a humanitarian disaster.”
He said pressure would be put on the Taliban to have as inclusive as possible a government, including women.