Afghan Bundeswehr helpers: “When the Taliban come, they’ll kill us first”


Afghan Bundeswehr helpers
“When the Taliban come, they’ll kill us first”

By Robert Clausen

The Federal Republic promised a quick, unbureaucratic solution for those Afghans who supported the Bundeswehr during their deployment in the country. But it is difficult to accept them in Germany, and many helpers are bitter. And the Taliban are getting closer.

Ahmad Jawid Sultani supported the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan for nine years. He worked for them as a translator, helped in the camp and accompanied the soldiers to the front. Now the 31-year-old has to fear for his life. The Bundeswehr is gone, the Taliban are at the door and the desperate helpers and translators are left behind. If the Taliban come, they say, they will be killed first. The federal government is letting its helpers down – the announcements sounded so hopeful.

Ahmad Jawid Sultani is sitting in his house in Mazar-i-Sharif. It is his refuge, as he says. It’s the only thing that offers him protection at the moment after Germany didn’t. He had actually hoped to be able to come to the Federal Republic. From 2009 to 2018 he worked for the German Armed Forces. He believed in western values ​​and wanted to help the troops. But now he’s bitter and afraid for his life. “I’ve lost hope. All my colleagues here in Mazar-i-Sharif are losing hope,” he said in an interview with ntv. The Taliban would see him as a traitor, a spy. He has this stamp on his forehead, says Sultani.

Bureaucracy could become a death trap

In mid-April, Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer spoke of Germany’s “deep obligation” not to “leave these people defenseless”. And it was only in mid-June that the federal government overturned the two-year rule, according to which only local staff who had worked for the troops in the past two years were allowed to come. A glimmer of hope for Sultani. The local staff were to be recruited quickly and unbureaucratically, parallel to the withdrawal of the German troops. At least that’s what ex-diplomats, scientists and the military demanded in an open letter to the federal government.

But there can be no question of unbureaucratic: the helpers have to submit a hazard application, which is checked, then a visa can be applied for. But the office for this is in Kabul, 500 kilometers from Mazar-i-Sharif. 500 kilometers through Taliban land. So it is impossible for Sultani to apply there.

“Right now I don’t see any chance of escaping from here,” he says. The access roads are blocked, and fighting raged outside the city. “Kabul will not remain safe either. It will soon be very dangerous there too.” There was actually supposed to be an office for local staff in Mazar-i-Sharif too, but the opening was postponed indefinitely. The situation on site was too dangerous, they said. That sounds like a mockery to the helpers on site.

Taliban are at the door

The Taliban have now conquered around 90 of the 400 districts in Afghanistan. They got their hands on tons of assault rifles, vehicles and even tanks. And the terrorists are getting bolder and bolder. Just two weeks ago they posed with weapons at the gates of Mazar-i-Sharif. Your message: Nobody can stop us. And in fact, some units of the Afghan army apparently surrendered without a fight.

In addition to the fear, what remains for Sultani is above all disappointment. “I am very angry and regret that I even worked for the Bundeswehr,” he says. Everyone in his area knows who he is and that he worked for the Bundeswehr. “People are already asking me: ‘Hey, the Bundeswehr is leaving, why are you staying here? You know that the Taliban will punish you.'” Desperate, he asks: “What have I done that nobody is willing to do me help?”

The federal government knows his case. But the government evades when asked. One is of the opinion that the previous procedure has proven itself, “and with it the autonomous departure of the local staff”, announced the Ministry of the Interior. The Ministry of Defense said succinctly that they could not give the helpers on site any tips on how to behave, after all, the Bundeswehr was no longer there.

Even before the last German soldiers left, Sultani and his colleagues demonstrated in favor of leaving the country, now they have been left alone. If the Taliban are on his doorstep, he hopes they will at least shoot him directly.

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