MoD: Azerbaijani soldiers guarding Kabul airport

By Azernews

By Vafa Ismayilova

Baku has stated that the Azerbaijani army's 120-member peacekeeping unit continue guarding the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.

In a statement posted on its website on August 15, the Defence Ministry said that the Azerbaijani peacekeeping unit along with forces of brotherly Turkey continues to carry out its official duties to ensure the security of the Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan.

“The ministry is in constant contact with our peacekeepers, the moral and psychological state of the personnel is at a high level. The operational situation is being closely monitored in coordination with brotherly Turkey,” the ministry said.

In the  meantime, Foreign Ministry Leyla Abdullayeva has said that there are no Azerbaijani civilians are currently present in Afghanistan.

Abdullayeva reminded that in accordance with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s order dated July 28, 2021, Ilham Mammadov was appointed the ambassador of Azerbaijan to Afghanistan.

"After the appointment, the ambassador to Afghanistan hasn’t yet left. As for the civilians of Azerbaijan in this country, they are currently not there. Azerbaijani peacekeepers continue their service in Afghanistan," she added.

The Taliban armed group retook power in Afghanistan 20 years after it was toppled by the USA. The collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul came in the wake of Taliban blitzkrieg that began on August 6 and led to the capture of more than two dozen Afghan provinces by the morning of August 15.