Dutch Foreign Minister resigns due to crisis management in Afghanistan

Dutch Foreign Minister resigns due to crisis management in Afghanistan

In a parliamentary debate on Wednesday night, Sigrid Kaag acknowledged that the Dutch government’s slow and confused response to warnings about the situation in Afghanistan meant that some were working as interpreters for local officials and Dutch troops in the country. The people were not removed from there.

“The Chamber understood that the government had acted irresponsibly. While I am committed, I can only accept the consequences of this decision while serving with ultimate responsibility.”, Corg wrote in a statement, when he resigned.

After the lower house of parliament approved the censure motion on Thursday, the minister immediately announced that she was resigning.

“In my opinion what should be democracy and culture in our administration, if the policy of a minister fails then he should leave it”.

Sigrid Kaag has taken over as head of diplomacy in an interim Dutch government in office, while talks continue to form a new governing coalition following general elections in the Netherlands in March.

Cork, however, will remain the leader of the centre-left D66 party, which is part of a coalition in talks with Prime Minister Mark Root after March’s election victory. Current executive’s exit ‘a big loss’ for Rutte.

The Dutch minister’s resignation comes a day after the British government ousted his counterpart Dominic Raab, reportedly also due to the way the crisis in Afghanistan was handled.

Despite being condemned by parliament, Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijlewald decided to remain in office.

What failed in Kabul?
In the days before US forces left Afghanistan, the Netherlands evacuated more than 1,500 people from both Dutch and skilled Afghans. But many Afghans who worked with the Dutch embassy in Kabul, including 22 interpreters, were left behind despite calls by lawmakers to withdraw them months earlier..

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Cork acknowledged during Wednesday’s parliamentary debate that The Dutch government was closed to “how quickly things would get worse” in Afghanistan, but said other countries were in a similar situation.

But Dutch lawmakers from across the political spectrum did not fail to criticize the government during the parliamentary debate on Afghanistan.

“How is it possible that there are still dozens of defense interpreters in Kabul?”, asked Jeroen van Wijngaarden, a deputy of Prime Minister Rutte’s VVD party.

The ministers were accused of being “apathetic” and of being mired in “slowness and inattention” during the crisis in Kabul.

Criticisms were reinforced by the chaotic scenario described by the Dutch press, when it was revealed that the embassy had been asking the government to prepare an evacuation since March 2020, but ministers made the decision just two days before the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. did. .

About the author: Sarah Gracie

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