Spain evacuates 160 more Afghans via Pakistan

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s defense ministry has completed the evacuation of another 160 Afghans who had initially been left behind following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

The new group joins the 83 people Spain flew into an air base near Madrid on Monday.

The defense ministry said that the mission was able to extract the Afghan workers and families via Pakistan before they were flown to Spain.

Spain launched the mission to evacuate workers who hadn’t been able to leave Afghanistan during the airlift operation in August when it pulled out about 2,200 Spaniards and Afghans via Kabul’s airport.

Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister José Albares visited both Pakistan and Qatar last month to ask for their assistance in extracting more Afghan workers.