Besides Hungarian citizens, the Hungarian forces have also airlifted US, Austrian and Afghan citizens in a seven-day operation that began on August 19, he told a press conference. Answering a question, the minister confirmed that the evacuation operation had been concluded. All Hungarians requesting assistance were brought back to Hungary, as were all Afghan citizens who had cooperated with the Hungarian armed forces over its 18-year deployment and requested evacuation “on time”, Benkő said. Some 87% of “Afghans with ties to Hungary” were evacuated, including 57 families and 180 children, he said. The government ordered the evacuation of Hungarian citizens on August 17, and the army’s resources were scrambled by the afternoon of the next day. The operation started early on August 19, he added. The armed forces used two Airbus A319s to fly the evacuees from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, in 14 flight rounds during the operation’s seven days. They then transferred to passenger planes of Wizz Air and the Uzbek airline company which brought them to Hungary, Benkő said.
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