They had left Austria to visit their families despite the travel warning from the government. These are Afghans who obtained Austrian residence permits by claiming that they had faced danger in their country of birth.
It sounds absurd and is completely incomprehensible to many Austrians
Many migrants who came to Austria as “refugees” from Afghanistan apparently went back there for a vacation. Many of them are now stranded in Kabul. For example, a 24-year-old HTL student from Vienna , travelled to his former country of origin, since his permanent residence permit allows him to do so. Now he is stuck in Afghanistan and hoping the Austrians will help him.
The question of why a person is able to travel to a country from where they have fled because they “fear for their life” remains unanswered. The Austrian mainstream media is not interested in an answer either.
Jagdkommando soldiers risked their lives in Kabul
“Some 76 Austrian citizens with Afghan roots or in need of protection, who had fled Afghanistan and were visiting their families in the country, were evacuated from Kabul by plane with the help of the Austrian Federal Army,” reported Michael Bauer of the Austrian Armed Forces.
In order to bring them safely to Kabul airport, those still remaining in Afghanistan had to avoid the Taliban, and highly trained Austrian elite commando soldiers were sent in to aid them. Staff from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also participating in the operation. The elite soldiers were on foot, risking their lives to bring back the “refugees” through the city under siege to the airport.
Foreign Minister explains his move
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) told the media: “We have an obligation to help.” But Austria imposed the highest travel warning level for Afghanistan years ago and advised everyone not to travel to the country. However, many “refugees” still visited their families.
One comment
The Kurz governmnt is showing its OVP-Greens fissures, and the OVP has its own cracks. The Austrian miitary certainly performed well, as good and perhaps better than other foreign forces, and succeeded in its mission. But the circumstances surrounding it, and the likely politics behind it, raise some eyebrows. Failure to do anything about Austrians with residence permits (or, perhaps, passports?) would have caused further friction with the Greens, who control the Justice and Social Affairs ministries, and could have made considerable political trouble for Kurz had he not taken action to bring back the vacationers. If Kurz is planning to replace the Greens with the FPO in his government, the politics and timing are probably not the best to do it at the present time. At any rate, he, and Austria, come out of this looking a lot more competent and capable that other governments.
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