Irish people have been told to leave Afghanistan “as soon as possible” by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The warning comes as the Taliban prepare to enter the capital Kabul, the only major city not yet under their control.
Herat, Mazar-e Sharif and Kandahar, the country's second-largest city, have already been seized by the Taliban.
A DFA spokesperson said the department was “gravely concerned at the speed and scale of the Taliban’s offensive”.
Ireland has no embassy in Afghanistan, however a “small number” of Irish citizens in the country are registered with the Irish Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
The DFA has urged them to leave as soon as possible, warning there are limits to the assistance it can offer.
“If you are currently in Afghanistan, you are advised to leave as soon as possible by commercial means due to the worsening security situation,” said a spokeswoman.
'Limits to assistance'
“Irish citizens in Afghanistan should contact the Irish Embassy in Abu Dhabi to confirm their departure plans.
“There are limits to the assistance the Department of Foreign Affairs can provide in a crisis and you should not rely on the Department of Foreign Affairs being able to evacuate you from Afghanistan in an emergency.
“We cannot guarantee that we will be in a position to offer consular assistance should you decide to remain there.
“If you consider your presence in Afghanistan to be absolutely essential, you should have adequate and continuous professional security arrangements and ensure they are regularly reviewed, adhere to public health advice, and we would strongly advise that you make contact with the Irish Embassy in Abu Dhabi if you have not already done so.”
As a member of the UN Security Council, Ireland has consistently called on the Taliban to end its campaign of violence and urged it to re-engage in the Doha peace negotiations.
Ireland also warned that the future provision of support to the Afghan government is conditional on the protection and promotion of human rights.
Definitely advice not to be taken lightly. I hope everyone will take heed. This is serious (and not only for Afghanistan, but for countries in 'the West' also, and the world over...
Just one example - a news headline from just over a year ago (18th May 2020) :
'Two newborns among 24 killed as gunmen storm Kabul maternity hospital'
Two newborn babies are among the dead after gunmen stormed a maternity hospital in the city of Kabul, killing 24 people.
The horrific attack took place in the Afghan city on Tuesday of last week, at a maternity hospital where medical charity Doctors Without Borders run a clinic.
The victims were largely nurses, mothers and their babies.
Up to 100 women and newborn babies were evacuated from the hospital following the shooting rampage once it was deemed safe, according to the BBC.
A woman sits next to newborn babies who lost their mothers following an attack in a maternity hospital, in Kabul on May 13, 2020..(Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)
It is understood that the mass murder was carried out by at least three men, who dressed as police officers to gain entrance to the hospital before throwing grenades and shooting indiscriminately.
An official told the BBC that Afghan special forces had killed the three attackers.
Reuters reports that one woman, who had been trying to conceive for seven years, lost her newborn child just four hours after he was born.
She had named him Omid, meaning 'Hope'.
Images from the brutal attack shows military officers carrying newborn children, swaddled in bloodstained blankets, to safety.
One such image, posted to Twitter by Lotfullah Najafizada of TOLOnews, bears the caption: "Born to see this? Time to rethink."
No terrorist organisation has claimed responsibility for the attack, which Interior Ministry spokesperson Tareq Arian has called "an act against humanity and a war crime".
On the same day in the same city, a suicide bomber killed at least 24 more people who had gathered to pay respects at the funeral of a police commander, for which the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility.
Fifteen trapped Irish nationals desperately seeking to escape Afghanistan
Fifteen Irish nationals are desperately attempting to escape Afghanistan following the government collapse and Taliban takeover.There were horrific scenes in the capital of Kabul over the weekend and into Monday as the Taliban captured the city and claimed victory after a 20-year struggle, following the recent departure of US troops.
The President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country before the capital was stormed by the Taliban, and the group have now taken over all government buildings including the presidential palace.
Thousands have attempted to flee the country, with chaotic scenes at Kabul airport showing people desperate for refuge attempting to board planes without visas or tickets, scaling walls to gain entry to the airport and some climbing on the planes themselves.
US troops are present at the airport to protect citizens trying to escape from the Taliban, and there have been reports of shots fired, though unclear by whom, as chaos and panic is rife among the thousands trying to flee.
At least two people are believed to have been killed at the mayhem at the airport, BBC News reports.
TOPSHOT - Afghans crowd at the airport as they wait to leave from Kabul on August 16, 2021. (Photo by Shakib Rahmani / AFP)
Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, this morning appeared on Newstalk and RTÉ's Morning Ireland where he said there are a total of 23 Irish nationals in Afghanistan, some with dual citizenships.
Of those, fifteen people are desperately trying to flee the war-torn country before the Taliban come into power, Mr Coveney said.
Most had been booked on commercial flights from Kabul airport, but all flights into Afghanistan and many flying over Afghani airspace have been cancelled amid the crisis: the Irish government are now working with other EU countries, and the US, to evacuate the Irish nationals.
Mr Coveney also said Ireland would be waiving visas for 45 citizens escaping Afghanistan, some of whom have already made it to neighbouring Pakistan, and Ireland would be taking in up to 150 refugees.
Ireland would prioritise human rights workers, media workers and women and girls, the vulnerable", he told Morning Ireland.
He added that Ireland and the UN will need to do more to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of people who would become displaced by the horror in Afghanistan, calling it a "foreign policy catastrophe" not seen in "decades".
Mr Coveney confirmed he would be "staying very close to" ... "anyone that has an Irish passport or Irish connections" to try and help them escape the country in the coming days.
He admitted to Newstalk that we will see "a lot more brutality, hundreds of thousands if not millions of refugees fleeing across borders... we're leaving behind an incredibly vulnerable and very frightened population in Afghanistan and that is a tragedy."