NARITA (Chiba Pref.): Four Afghans who have fled their country, now under the control of the Taliban, arrived in Japan on Sunday night.

They are the first Afghans linked to Japan who have reached the East Asian country after evacuating Afghanistan.

The four Afghan evacuees — a local staff worker of the Japan International Cooperation Agency and family members — are among people covered by the Japanese government’s evacuation mission related to the crisis in Afghanistan.

They flew to Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, via the Qatari capital of Doha after fleeing Afghanistan to Islamabad, the capital of neighboring Pakistan, overland. At the airport, they were escorted by officials from Japan’s Foreign Ministry.

In late August, the Japanese government dispatched Self-Defense Forces aircraft to evacuate Afghans linked to Japan, including workers at the Japanese Embassy in Kabul, as well as Japanese nationals. But Japan was only able to rescue one Japanese national and 14 Afghans, due to a major suicide bomb attack near Kabul’s airport.

JIJI Press