PARIS, August 19. /TASS/. France is currently setting up an air bridge to evacuate thousands of people from Afghanistan, French Secretary of State for European Affairs Clement Beaune said in an interview with the France Info radio station on Thursday.
"Currently, in order to provide evacuation, France is creating an air bridge between Kabul and Paris with planes that will fly through Abu Dhabi," he said. "At this moment, we don’t have an exact figure of how many people will be evacuated from Afghanistan to France. In any case, it is clear that we are talking about several thousand people in need of protection," the official asserted.
"To date, three French military planes have already evacuated approximately 400 people. These are mostly Afghans who need urgent protection. Generally, most of these Afghans worked for various French agencies," he said.
The secretary of state noted that France "had begun evacuating Afghans back in May in order to protect 600 people who worked for it." He noted that France "treats the reception of the Afghans on its territory with full responsibility." "In recent years, we have given the green light to 10,000 requests for refuge from Afghans. For several years already, France has been in first place throughout Europe in terms of granting asylum to Afghans on its territory," the official said.
"We will continue this practice. No quantitative restrictions exist in this sphere," he asserted. "The practice of receiving the Afghans on French soil will also continue after the air bridge with this country ceases to exist," the secretary of state assured.