Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag announced her resignation on Thursday after a majority of the Dutch parliament said she had mishandled the Afghanistan evacuation crisis, a press officer from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs told CNN.
According to the ministry, a debate took place in the Dutch parliament on Wednesday about the crisis in Afghanistan and the evacuation efforts. A motion was drafted that condemned the cabinet's handling of the situation.
Such motions do not require immediate resignation, it was Sigrid Kaag's own decision to quit, said the press officer.
Tens of thousands of non-resident Afghans and Afghans who were associated with international organizations last month were airlifted out of Kabul after the Taliban seized control of the country on August 15.
Many other vulnerable people were left behind in the course of a chaotic evacuation operation, prompting criticism that Western powers had let many of those who had worked with them over the past two decades be left behind.
In the last two weeks of August, about 2,100 Dutch military planes pulled people to neighboring countries - almost 1,700 of them had the Netherlands as their final destination, according to Reuters. But hundreds of Afghans, many of Dutch citizens of Afghan origin, and an unspecified number of Afghans whose work meant they were at risk were unable to reach the airport for travel to safety, said news agency.