The federal government actually wanted to bring Afghans persecuted by the Taliban to Germany, but the program was stopped a few days ago after heavy criticism: it was apparently misused by both Islamists and persons not entitled to protection. After all, who checks whether the risk situation is actually correct? The selection for the inclusion lists is taken over by civil society organizations, among others, since the Federal Republic has no local representatives. German security authorities have been sounding the alarm for some time: Aid organizations such as Mission Lifeline have been negligent in checking who they want to bring into the country. This is allegedly shown by the case of a local worker who was murdered by the Taliban.
Opinions differ greatly as to who is at risk in Afghanistan and to what extent, who is entitled to protection and thus an acceptance letter from Germany and who is not. According to consistent media reports, there have been no large-scale targeted killings since the Taliban took power in the summer of 2021. Claiming this would give a false picture of the actual situation on the ground.
While German authorities are therefore talking about a low four-digit number of people at risk who are entitled to receive admission and their families, aid organizations see the number in the hundreds of thousands of people. The Noori case is all the more interesting. Who was the man who, according to Mission Lifeline CEO Axel Steier, was said to have been murdered by the Taliban a few months ago? The man is said to have died because the Bundeswehr had not previously given him an acceptance letter. If the report is correct, it would be the first documented case of a targeted killing of a former local army officer by the Taliban. But is the message actually true?
The research is difficult and takes several months because Steier is initially unwilling to share background information about the alleged murder. Who was Nooruddin Noori, that’s the full name? In what employment relationship did he work for the German Armed Forces? How did he die? What evidence regarding the circumstances of his death is available independently? Which people from Noori’s immediate environment could you talk to on site? What evidence is there that Noori was actually threatened and violently killed at the hands of the Taliban? On what grounds was his application for admission rejected by the Bundeswehr?
No information from Mission Lifeline
A lawyer tells ntv.de that Mission Lifeline would not comment on anything that would “damage the reputation of our country”. Exactly what is meant by this remains unclear, and a question went unanswered. But critical questions are definitely appropriate, because months of research in Afghanistan could not confirm the threat situation of the former local forces, which Steier repeatedly put forward. In the meantime, there are also increasing reports that aid organizations hardly have an overview of who they put on danger lists. Without a doubt, the economic situation of pretty much everyone in the country is catastrophic. According to the United Nations, 97 percent of the population is threatened by acute poverty, and the rights of women and girls are being curtailed more and more.
So who was Noori – and why did he have to die? A spokesman for the Bundeswehr’s Operations Command tells ntv that the man had a lease for shop number 8 in a small bazaar in Camp Marmal in Mazar-e-Sharif until he canceled it of his own accord in 2009. The parking spaces were made available to the shopkeepers for a sales commission, they worked there independently and had no contractual relationship with the Bundeswehr for services or work. From a purely legal point of view, Noori was not a local employee, but rather had applied for the store’s parking space in a tendering process.
Nothing to find out on site
During his time at Camp Marmal, Noori was never active in a security-related area, the spokesman says. In addition, Noori never submitted an application for endangerment, so the ministry did not have any information about a rejection notice or even his death. Mission Lifeline board member Steier also fails to provide evidence that Noori is dead at all. From a total of eight sources of former Camp Marmal employees, ntv learned that the Noori case was not known locally and that the situation, apart from the lack of economic prospects, was relatively “calm”.
Former members of the Afghan secret service are now free to roam the streets again, and nothing has been heard of large-scale raids by the Taliban. So why is the aid organization going public with potentially false claims that are difficult to verify? It is not the first time that Mission Lifeline has attracted attention with negative headlines: More than two years ago, Claus-Peter Reisch, who had carried out sea rescue missions for the aid organization as a captain for many years, distanced himself from the NGO: He now has a lot “too radical left”. Also the Search for passport forgers and the allegation of inciting sham marriages with refugees drew criticism from Mission Lifeline.