Dutch gov't cannot go back on promise to help Afghan security guards, Ombudsman says

National Ombudsman Reinier van Zutphen is indignant that the Schoof I Cabinet decided to break its predecessor’s promise to evacuate Afghan security guards who worked for the Netherlands and now live in hiding, fearing Taliban retribution. “It is inhuman to say: we promised something, but we now actually find it too expensive,” he said to NRC.

At the end of September, the Schoof Cabinet announced that it was reversing the previous Cabinet’s decision to evacuate Afghan guards who protected Dutch military bases and the embassy against the Taliban between 2002 and 2021. The short letter didn’t include any substantiation or explanation. However, the “decision memo” sent with the letter makes clear that the government considered the costs too high to bring all entitled guards and their family members to the Nehtelrands.

Van Zupthen called these arguments “incomprehensible,” “improper,” and “violating human rights.” The Rutte IV government promised that a “defined group” of Afghan guards would be allowed to come to the Netherlands. The new Cabinet cannot simply go back on that commitment. “That is not how it works. A decision is a decision.”

According to the Ombudsman, he had this same fight in 2021 when veterans sounded the alarm about Afghan interpreters who had worked for the Dutch mission but were in danger of being left to their fate. The government eventually evacuated 1,860 Afghan interpreters and other employees.

“I had to persevere for a very long time, but I did so because the veterans told me: it is unacceptable for us that the people who helped us are being abandoned. And that is also why I am speaking out again now,” Van Zutphen said. “I see that veterans are deeply affected by the fact that the Dutch State does not want to take care of the people who protected them.”

“The Cabinet must retrace its step. And listen to the veterans, the people who risked their lives for our freedom.”