The foreign ministry has revealed that Hungary's military allies have evacuated 26 Hungarian citizens from Kabul to Tashkent.
State Secretary Levente Magyar had said earlier that Hungary would launch an operation in Kabul to evacuate Hungarians and their Afghan helpers. “After consulting with Hungary, our military allies have flown 26 Hungarian citizens out of Afghanistan,” the ministry said in a statement.
Magyar had said that Hungary was also prepared to help Afghan citizens who had helped the Hungarian troops in the country, as well as their families. This group, he said, numbers a few hundred people. “We know who they are, and they are in mortal danger, so it is our moral duty to help them,” Magyar said.
The state secretary added that Afghanistan-related tasks are fulfilled by cargo planes starting from the airport in Pápa, western Hungary. The details of the operation are under NATO command and are confidential, he said. At the same time, “it is out of the question” that Hungary should participate in a “general redistribution” of Afghan refugees and accept them into the country, the state secretary said. Hungary will not yield to migration pressure and will keep its southern borders closed, he added.