The government wants to get Afghans who helped the Czech Republic into the country. Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamáček (ČSSD) said this at a press conference on Monday. He described the situation in Afghanistan as a collapse
“The situation can not be described in any other way than the absolute collapse of the Afghan government and the Afghan security forces. This collapse came very quickly and forced all states to react very quickly, ” Hamáček said at a press conference on Monday.
Hamáček hopes that the people evacuated from Afghanistan can be integrated into Czech society as quickly as possible. “We will be negotiating with the governors of all regions, and we want to find employment for these people,” the Social Democrats’ chairman explained.
He stressed that not all Afghans who want to come to the Czech Republic could be granted asylum. “We have a precisely set asylum system, and each case is assessed individually. Our legal system does not allow us to refuse people who would face persecution or a threat to their lives. But we are not going for a blanket solution, ” he said.
More flights will be needed
The first evacuation plane arrived from Afghanistan on Monday morning with 46 Czech and Afghan co-workers on board. Another evacuation plane took off for Kabul in the morning. According to Hamáček, more flights will be needed, but he does not have exact information on the number of people on the required list.
On Monday morning, a report came in that one of the interpreters who had helped the Czech army in the past had disappeared. The interior minister has no specific information about this. “The army took care to help as many people as possible while eliminating security risks when compiling the list. The aim is to get as many people as possible into the Czech Republic, ” he said.
The Czech Republic has promised to help local Czech embassy staff and interpreters with a valid contract with the Czech army who have passed a security clearance. However, the government has come under criticism for its slow response and for not including all of the army collaborators from earlier years on the list. The Czech Republic has assisted Afghan interpreters, but the program was canceled in 2017.