A majority of the 450 Afghan civilians are expected to arrive by plane by the end of the week depending on the situation at the Kabul airport. They are democratic, peaceful population, employees and family members of employees in humanitarian and peacekeeping missions, activists from human rights organizations, journalists, translators, students, scholarship holders, and citizens who have been supporting NATO troops in Afghanistan, including the Macedonian Army, government spokesmen Muamet Hoxha and Dusko Arsovski said on Wednesday.

They stressed that Macedonia was among the first to inform the United States of its readiness to assist these people fleeing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

They also stressed that there is no risk of a migrant crisis, nor should this humanitarian operation be linked to the reception center for foreigners or migrant camps on the northern and southern borders. Macedonia is part of a major global humanitarian action, they said.