France Accidentally Evacuates Taliban Member Who Admits Being ‘Armed Checkpoint Commander’

The government of France has admitted Tuesday that it ‘accidentally’ evacuated a man from Afghanistan who had been a member of the Taliban. The man was subsequently detained, and is not the only one with potential terror links: “The man is believed to be close to another Afghan evacuee who is suspected of working for the Taliban, Gabriel Attal told BFM-TV.”

“Both had been placed under surveillance on their arrival in France, and the man held was detained for violating the terms of this control measure,” France24 reports. The security incident was revealed a day after a similar situation unfolded in the UK, where an Afghan evacuee was found to be on the country’s ‘no fly list’.

Likely such revelations of ‘accidental’ evacuations of Afghans who had links with the Taliban will only grow, given the rapid pace of civilian evacuations from Kabul airport still underway. On Monday alone US officials said a whopping 16,000 people, including Americans, had been airlifted out of the country over the prior 24 hours.

It would clearly be impossible to vet that many people and their backgrounds under the rapid and urgent Pentagon-overseen evacuation logistics at the airport.

In the case of the Taliban member who was flown into France, he had actually worked as an armed Taliban commander of a checkpoint:

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told France Info radio that he had left an area he was required to stay in for a “few minutes,” insisting there had been no security lapse.

Attal said the main suspect helped in the evacuation of French people from Afghanistan “at an incredibly tense moment and probably saved lives”. But he had “links with the Taliban, at some point, and this needs to be specified”.

According to a ministerial document seen by AFP, he admitted his membership of the Taliban and said he had worked as the armed head of a Taliban checkpoint in Kabul.

Interestingly over a week ago French President Emmanuel Macron warned about this very scenario – and of course was widely condemned in European media for the statements. – READ MORE