Sunday 29th August 2021
You can also leave the country by land
Maas: Tens of thousands are supposed to go to Germany
After the Bundeswehr withdrew from Kabul, Foreign Minister Maas is exploring the possibilities for people who are still staying in the country to leave the country. A variant would be the way over the green borders. Another is the inclusion of civil aviation.
Even after the end of the rescue operation by the Bundeswehr, the Federal Government will do everything in its power to bring the Germans who have stayed behind in Afghanistan and those in need of protection to Germany as quickly as possible, according to Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. Possibly, in the future, departures could also be made by land, said Maas during a visit to his Turkish colleague Mevlüt Cavusoglu in Antalya. There are still tens of thousands of people in the country who are to be flown to Germany.
In order to continue to fly people out of Afghanistan via Kabul airport, the heavily damaged airport must be repaired, said Maas. Furthermore, continued operation of the airport would require “reliable security guarantees” from the radical Islamic Taliban. The SPD politician praised the fact that Turkey is looking into operating the airport in Kabul again. Germany offers technical assistance here if this is desired.
The future of Kabul airport after the end of the international rescue operations and the final withdrawal of US troops next Tuesday is completely open. The Taliban, who have been in power in Afghanistan again since mid-August, are currently negotiating, among other things, with Turkey to continue operating the airport.
The Turkish foreign minister said that the Taliban had received a request to continue civilian operation of the airport and were investigating it. Before that, however, you need security guarantees for the people who work there. He said the Taliban had made “positive approaches” to the work of foreign embassies. The Turkish diplomats have returned from the airport to the embassy in Kabul. Most Western countries, on the other hand, have withdrawn their embassy staff.
Maas: prevent “humanitarian disaster”
According to Maas, during his multi-day trip, Maas wants to talk to people in the neighboring Afghan states of Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan about safe ways to leave the country by land. At the same time, talks are taking place with the Taliban to give people a safe route to the national borders, he said. Already now it can be observed that Afghans are moving towards the national borders.
“There are still tens of thousands of local workers, including their families,” said the Foreign Minister. In addition, there are still around ten thousand people in need of protection. “There are still a lot of people who have accepted a record from us,” added the SPD politician. For this group of people they are now trying to organize ways in which they could legally leave the country. In government circles in the past few days there had been talk of more than 40,000 people including family members.
A “humanitarian disaster” in Afghanistan must be prevented, Maas continued – also in order to avoid “major refugee movements” from the country. It must be ensured that people do not leave Afghanistan simply because “they do not get anything to eat”. The Turkish foreign minister demanded that the western states have to resume their development aid for Afghanistan. Turkey has taken on its ethical task and cannot accept any further refugees. An agreement had to be found with the Taliban on how refugees could safely get to the borders of Afghanistan and then leave the country.
The United Nations is expecting up to half a million refugees from Afghanistan by the end of the year. After the Taliban came to power, many Afghans fear a new reign of terror from the Islamists, as in the years 1996 to 2001. In addition, there is a drought which, according to UN figures, threatens the food security of around 14 million Afghans.
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