• Official says the immediate requirement is to bring down Sri Lankans from Kabul

 By Sunil Jayasiri

Sri Lanka is closely monitoring the development in Afghanistan in terms of immediate, mid and long term implications and to bring down a group of 65 Sri Lankans now in Kabul, a day after the Taliban seized power of Afghanistan after 20 years, a senior defence official said.

 “We are closely monitoring the developments in Afghanistan in terms of immediate, mid and long term implications that could bring about in the South Asian region, in particular Sri Lanka,” the official told Daily Mirror yesterday.
 The official said that Sri Lanka’s immediate requirement was to bring down the Sri Lankans stranded in Afghanistan following the latest development there.

 When asked whether the Sri Lanka government was recognising the new Afghan ‘government’, the official said that Sri Lanka would decide on it after monitoring the situation prevailing there and the dealings between the international community and the new government.

 Earlier, the Foreign Ministry said that Sri Lanka was engaged in the process of working with the International partners to facilitate the return of the Sri Lankan nationals present in Afghanistan, if they wished to return.
 The Sri Lankan nationals in Afghanistan mostly work for the United Nations, International organisations, NATO military bases and private companies, it added.

BLURB
The Sri Lankan nationals in Afghanistan mostly work for the United Nations, International organisations, NATO military bases and private companies