At least 15 Afghans who worked as local security guards for the Dutch forces in Afghanistan have been murdered since the Dutch left Uruzgan province in 2010, the NRC reported on Monday.

The figure comes from Nesar Ahmad Naeemi, who led the local guards providing security services for the Dutch at Kamp Holland and who has been a refugee in the Netherlands since 2019.

He continues to monitor what happened to former guards and, the NRC said, the figure is also backed by refugee agency Vluchtelingenwerk.

Some 96 former ASG guards who worked for the Dutch between 2006 and 2010 are still in Afghanistan and, says Naeemi, they are all in danger, given the return of the Taliban to power.

“It is the Netherlands’ responsibility to help them now,” he told the paper.

Other Afghan nationals who worked for the Dutch have been given asylum in the Netherlands, including the interpreters who were evacuated after the fall of Kabul in August 2021.

According to foreign affairs ministry figures, 99 people are still on the evacuation list but none are former guards. Several dozen cases, including those of several guards, are still being looked at.

To qualify for evacuation, the person must have worked for the Dutch for at least three months in visible positions, which led to them now facing threats. The guards, however, are unable to prove they face threats individually and often worked via a third party, so were not directly employed by the Dutch.

On Wednesday, a court case brought by seven ASGs who worked in Kamp Holland and want to be evacuated to the Netherlands, will be heard in a Dutch court.