France's Prime Minister Jean Castex said that the country will end its evacuation flights from Afghanistan by the evening of August 27, although that decision may be expedited following the news of an explosion at Kabul International Airport on Thursday.

Castex admitted that from that point on "it will no longer be possible to carry out such flights," ahead of the planned U.S. departure from Kabul airport next week. 

France has been moving people to Paris from Kabul via an airbase in the United Arab Emirates and it has so far flown to safety more than 100 French citizens and some 2,000 Afghans. 

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Twelve flights have taken place so far, with the last possible departures planned to happen by Friday evening at the latest. 

In a communique released on Thursday, the French foreign ministry said that since August 15, around 2,500 people have been evacuated from Kabul, as well as a few dozen citizens of partner countries. 

The statement said that: "Operations are still ongoing. These people [who have been moved to safety in recent days] are added to the hundreds of Afghans threatened because of their links with our country that we have sheltered in recent years, and in the spring of this year, in anticipation of the current crisis." 

France began its airlifts in early May, flying out non-essential staff, so it has had the capacity to be able to evacuate people who are neither French nor Afghan. The French ambassador to Afghanistan said that France had been able to evacuate more than 250 people from the European Union's delegation to Kabul. 

The French president Emmanuel Macron had a phone call with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, on the evening of August 25. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the north, and in the call, the two presidents "shared their deep concern about the situation in Afghanistan."

Elsewhere in Europe, other nations are also finishing up their evacuations. Thursday marks the last day for Dutch flights taking people to the Netherlands from Afghanistan. Poland, Belgium, Denmark and Hungary have all already completed their evacuation missions. 

The airlifts have been taking place ahead of a full withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan. U.S. president Joe Biden said he will stick to his August 31 deadline for completing the U.S. pullout, and the Taliban – which now controls almost all the country – has insisted he must not extend the U.S. presence into September.