Status: 08/17/2021 11:42 am
Paratroopers of the Bundeswehr are supposed to bring the remaining Germans and local staff in Kabul to the airport. It could be difficult for the latter: The Taliban have announced that Afghans should not leave the country.
After the bumpy start of the Bundeswehr’s evacuation mission, numerous German nationals and Afghan local staff are to be flown out of Afghanistan in the coming days. According to the political scientist at the Bundeswehr University in Munich, Carlo Masala, this could be difficult. “The Taliban have announced that Afghans are not allowed to leave the country,” he said tagesschau24. This is mainly a problem with regard to the local staff. “There is no guarantee that we will get this out.”
Masala was more optimistic about the Germans who remained in Kabul. As long as the Americans were to secure the airport, foreigners could be flown out, according to the political scientist. The Taliban would have admitted that. “The Americans have promised that they will stay in Kabul for two more weeks,” said Masala. That is how long the evacuation operation could go on.
Carlo Masala, political scientist at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich, on the next return campaigns to Germany
Tagesschau24 10:00 a.m., August 17, 2021
“Situation could be extremely dangerous”
According to Musala, the fact that the first Bundeswehr plane returned from Kabul with only seven people on board has one main reason: “The Americans have the airport under control. The fact that only seven people were flown out is also due to the fact that only seven people were allowed in “said Musala.
In order to get the remaining Germans in Kabul safely to the airport, paratroopers of the Bundeswehr are also deployed in the city. “The situation could be extremely dangerous, both for the people being evacuated and for the soldiers,” said Musala. The presence of the paratroopers in Kabul could result in fighting with the Taliban.
The 600 soldiers that Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to provide to secure the evacuation would not be able to do much if the US soldiers withdrew, Musala said. There are currently 7,000 Americans on site.
Sibylle Licht, ARD New Delhi, with information on the current situation in Afghanistan
daily news 9:00 a.m., August 17, 2021
By yesterday afternoon, four Bundeswehr machines had made their way to Kabul. The air force wants to set up an airlift between Kabul and Tashkent. German citizens and Afghan local staff will first be flown to the capital of Uzbekistan and then brought to Germany by charter aircraft.