Poland to evacuate 300 Afghans. NATO chief thankful

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Friday spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He then revealed the decisions the two had made in social media. "Poland will be responsible for evacuation and safe transport of 300 Afghan citizens, who in recent years have been cooperating with the North-Atlantic Alliance, the prime minister said.

"We will first take them to Poland, and then to other NATO states," Morawiecki explained. He also reassured that Poland was taking allied obligations very seriously, and promised it would not be Poland's last word with regards to NATO involvement in the Afghanistan crisis.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg thanked Poland for involvement in the evacuation of the Afghan citizens who cooperated with NATO.

Third Polish aircraft with Poles and Poland's associates with their families evacuated from Kabul landed early on Friday in Warsaw. The first plane sent by Poland arrived in Warsaw on Wednesday evening, whereas the second - on Thursday morning. The evacuation mission launched by Poland involves military planes which take the evacuees from Kabul to Uzbekistan, where they board civilian PLL LOT aircraft destined for Poland.

After the Unites States had withdrawn most of their troops from Afghanistan, a large part of that country's territory fell into the hands of the Taliban. On Sunday, the militants seized the capital city of Kabul and entered the presidential palace.

U.S. forces on Monday had to halt all evacuations after the Kabul airport had been blocked by thousands of civilians who wanted to escape the Taliban-controlled capital of Afghanistan. On Tuesday the flights have been resumed.