The French newspaper, Le Monde, reports that French intelligence services left behind dozens of former Afghan security personnel who worked with them between 2009 and 2021.
“Several dozen members of the intelligence services of the former regime in Kabul collaborated with France’s secret service between 2009 and 2020. After the Taliban took power in 2021, only a minority were expatriated to France,” the newspaper reports.
Following the 9/11 attacks, France like many other NATO countries joined the United States to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and for years the country had a large military presence in Afghanistan.
In May 2012, former French president Francois Hollande announced that his country should have no combat in Afghanistan and his declaration marked the end of the country’s 11 years of war for French soldiers and its last soldier left Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
France, unlike its Western allies, according to the newspaper, thought it had played its cards when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021. French Ambassador, David Martinon was the first foreign diplomat to start the evacuation of French citizens and Afghans who had worked with them on early May 2021.
However, an investigation by Le Monde and its partners shows that two years later, Bureaucratic and political considerations seem to have deprived dozens of Afghans who collaborated with France in the very sensitive intelligence areas.
According to the report, between 60 and 90 former members of the Afghan secret services who collaborated with their French counterparts in an ad hoc structure between 2009 and 2020, now feel “left behind” and are demanding justice. Some of them have fled to neighboring countries due to the threats they face from the Taliban, who have detained, tortured and in some cases killed employees of the former government, soldiers and those who worked with foreigners.
