Provided Immediate and Informed Counsel to Clients' in Afghanistan Following a Coup by the Taliban

On August 11th, 2021 - Inherent Risks contacted several organisations with expat and local employees on the ground in Afghanistan to inform them of a potential security situation, and to advise them that they should consider evacuating their staff and assets from the country.

This advisory was issued by our firm as a result of reports that the Taliban had closed several key Border Crossings between August 4th and 6th, and on the 9th, announcing that they controlled all land Border Crossings.

Local intelligence, and reports by Afghans on social media, were also suggesting that the Taliban were closing-in on Kabul, as early as August 10th, and by August 13th, had completely surrounded the Capital.

On August 14th, the U.S. Embassy issued a warning to all U.S. citizens to evacuate the country immediately. Several other countries followed suit, including the U.K., Canada and Australia.

On August 15th, the the Taliban took control of the country.

At 03:18hrs on August 16th, I received a call through WhatsApp. I recognised the name as being the Country Manager for a critical infrastructure project in Afghanistan. Before a word was spoken, I could tell from the sound of sheer chaos in the background that something was wrong.

- Dan Kaine, Senior Partner

As the world witnessed through the lense of the media, crowds of desperate foreign citizens and Afghan locals had swarmed the runway at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, and Coalition Forces were stopping thousands of people from entering the gates. Options for those who had not evacuated yet were limited.

The phone call from the Country Manager resulted in Inherent Risks being tasked with directing 24-foreign citizens to safe-havens, outside the Capital, which included providing transportation, and identifying safe-routes. We then informed each relevant embassy/consulate of their names and exact locations, using both Latitude and Longitude Coordinates, and the What 3 Words addresses.

Through our local network of trusted Associates, Inherent Risks were able to secure several means of ground transportation, and additional 'hibernation' options throughout the country, all while providing timely and accurate, options and insights to organisations with people and assets in the country.

From August 16th to August 31st, the deadline of which the Taliban had given Coalition troops to leave the country, Inherent Risks staff provided Advisory services to 11 separate organisations, assisting 91 foreign citizens, and over 300 Afghans to evacuate the country.

At the time of writing, we continue to provide on-going consultancy to expats and locals who chose to remain behind, or who did not manage to evacuate.