Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.

Dutch Foreign Minister quits over evacuation chaos in Afghanistan

The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Sigrid Kaag has resigned for her role in the evacuation of local embassy staff from Afghanistan.

Taliban, Afghanistan
IANS The Hague
2 min read Last Updated : Sep 17 2021 | 8:41 AM IST

The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Sigrid Kaag has resigned for her role in the evacuation of local embassy staff from Afghanistan.

Kaag on Thursday announced her decision after a motion of disapproval against her was passed by a majority of parliament, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The House judges that the cabinet has acted irresponsibly," Kaag said.

"Although I stand by our commitment, I can only accept the consequences of this judgment as the Minister with ultimate responsibility."

The parliament held Kaag responsible for not picking up signals from the parliament and from embassy staff in Afghanistan that an emergency situation was about to arrive.

As a result not everyone could be evacuated in time and local embassy personnel ran into "serious danger", according to the majority of the parliament.

Also Read

There was also a lot of irritation about the late and incomplete provision of information to the parliament.

Officially, a minister does not have to resign following a motion of disapproval.

The motion of disapproval against Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld also obtained a majority.

But Bijleveld had already announced that she would remain as Defence Minister regardless of the vote, noting that "my priority is still to bring everyone who is still in Afghanistan to safety."

--IANS

int/shs

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

More From This Section

Topics :TalibanAfghanistanNetherlands

First Published: Sep 17 2021 | 8:41 AM IST

Next Story