The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Sigrid Kaag has resigned from 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.
In a parliamentary debate on Wednesday, Kaag acknowledged that the government’s slow or muddled response to warnings about the situation in Afghanistan meant some local staff and people who had worked as translators for Dutch troops in the country had not been evacuated.
“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 of 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.
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.”
Earlier on Thursday, Don Ceder, a member of the faith-based Christian Union party, had said it supported the motion against Kaag and a similar one against the defense minister, Ank Bijleveld – a move that secured majority backing for the censures.
Ceder said the government “failed to show decisiveness, to show compassion, to pick up on signals and ultimately to take responsibility for people for whom we bear responsibility”.