An NZDF plane will be sent to Afghanistan to evacuate New Zealanders and Afghan nationals who worked with NZ forces after the fall of the government to Taliban forces overnight. At a post-Cabinet press briefing this afternoon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said 53 New Zealanders and 37 Afghan nationals who had worked alongside the NZDF were still in Afghanistan. The Operation Burnham inquiry had also added a degree of risk for Afghan nationals who had assisted NZ, Ardern said. The 37 Afghan nationals who had assisted the NZDF had at least 200 close family members. Every member of the NZDF who went into Afghanistan did so to make the local peoples' lives better.

Source: New Zealand Herald August 16, 2021 02:47 UTC