Two Filipinos who are part of the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders were evacuated out of Kabul and are now in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.
This brings down the estimated number of Filipinos remaining in Afghanistan to 24.
Also on Wednesday, the DFA confirmed the arrival of 22 Filipinos from Afghanistan via Philippine Airlines flight PR 721 from London. The repatriates are currently undergoing the mandatory quarantine for arriving passengers.
Since the Taliban took over the Afghan capital on Aug. 15, 2021, a total of 185 Filipinos have managed to leave Kabul, mostly through foreign military and company-assisted flights.
Of the 24 remaining Filipinos, 10 have expressed their intent to remain in Afghanistan while the rest are still awaiting repatriation from their employers or through the Philippine government-arranged flights.
Earlier, a spokesman for the Taliban has reiterated that it will not agree to an extension of the Aug. 31 deadline to evacuate Afghans from Kabul airport as United States-led troops ramped up its operations to airlift thousands of Afghans who wanted to leave their country.
On the part of the Philippines, the DFA said they will continue to work towards the immediate evacuation of the remaining Filipinos in Afghanistan.
“The Philippine embassies and consulates-general across the globe continue to assist and closely monitor the status of Filipinos who have been evacuated from Kabul,” the DFA said.