Ten Afghans who were evacuated to Pakistan after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last month will leave for Japan as early as Sunday, Japanese government officials said Saturday.
The 10 Afghans include two workers with the Japan International Cooperation Agency and their family members, and are among people covered by the Japanese government's evacuation mission related to the Afghanistan crisis.
They left Kabul in mid-August and reached Islamabad by land on their own, according to the officials.
They have already been granted visas to Japan and are slated to land at Narita International Airport, east of Tokyo, via Doha.
Another JICA-related Afghan family has also arrived in Islamabad and is now under Japan's protection, the officials said.
In late August, the government dispatched Self-Defense Forces aircraft to evacuate a maximum of 500 people in Afghanistan, including Japanese nationals and Afghan workers at the Japanese Embassy in Kabul. However, Japan was only able to rescue one Japanese national and 14 Afghans, due to suicide bomb attacks near Kabul's airport.
Japan will continue negotiations with the Taliban to evacuate those remaining in Afghanistan.
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