UPDATE 1-Swiss development agency workers escape Afghanistan on U.S. flight

(Updates with details, ministry comment)

ZURICH, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Switzerland's last three development agency workers have been airlifted from Afghanistan on a U.S. military plane, the foreign ministry said on Monday, adding it is working hard to evacuate local personnel from Kabul.

The three workers left the Afghan capital with members of staff from the German embassy and other international personnel for Doha in Qatar, arriving early on Monday morning, the foreign ministry said.

The Swiss staff, who have not been identified, were awaiting flights home.

"They are on their way to Switzerland," Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said in a tweet. "We are working very hard under the most difficult circumstances to evacuate local staff," he added.

Three other members of staff had already left Afghanistan and the Swiss Office for the Direction of Development and Cooperation has now been temporarily closed.

The 38 local employees of the office have not yet been able to leave the country. They and their families -- 230 people in all -- are getting Swiss humanitarian visas.

"The Afghan employees of the cooperation office could be viewed by the Taliban as Western collaborators and are therefore at risk of life and limb," the ministry said.

"The current situation in Kabul, namely at the airport in the Afghan capital, makes it difficult for local staff to leave the country. The foreign ministry is in constant contact with its employees on site."

The foreign ministry is also seeking ways to evacuate around 26 Swiss nationals, working for various international aid agencies, who were still in Afghanistan, a spokesperson said. (Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Michael Shields)