With the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan the Islamist Taliban keep advancing and conquer numerous areas. The messages at a glance:
NATO regards the violent advance of the militant Islamist Taliban in Afghanistan as worrying. The high level of violence of the Taliban in their offensive, including attacks on civilians and reports of human rights violations, is viewed with “deep concern,” said a NATO official. The Taliban had to understand that the international community would never recognize them if they refused to go to the political process and wanted to conquer the country by force. “You must stop your attacks and participate honestly in peace talks.”
The conflict cannot be resolved militarily, it said. A peace process under Afghan leadership must promote a ceasefire and a political solution. In particular, it must protect the human rights of women, children and minorities and ensure that Afghanistan “will never again become a safe haven for terrorists”. NATO calls on all regional actors “to contribute constructively, as everyone would benefit from a safe and stable Afghanistan.
The US is pressing for a political solution. The US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad had left for Qatar to “persuade the Taliban to end their military offensive and to negotiate a political solution,” said the US State Department. In the three-day talks, the US wants to work with representatives of countries in the region as well as with multilateral organizations to reduce violence and a ceasefire and commit to not recognizing any violent government, it said. Khalilzad was instrumental in negotiating the modalities of the withdrawal of US troops with the Taliban.
Scholz: The federal government is looking for solutions for local Afghan workers
According to Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the federal government is trying to save Afghan armed forces and their families from the violent advance of the Taliban more quickly. “We are discussing whether there are ways to speed up the transport so that those affected can be flown out more quickly,” said the SPD candidate for chancellor New Osnabrück Newspaper. Intensive efforts were made. “Germany cannot decide that on its own, it is a matter of close coordination with the Afghan government.” Chancellor Angela Merkel had promised more support for the local staff and, among other things, brought up charter flights to fly out helpers with their families.
Meanwhile, critics continue to accuse Germany of not helping the helpers, on whom the Bundeswehr was dependent, quickly enough. “The half-hearted support of the federal government for Afghan local staff, who have supported the Bundeswehr every day in its 20-year mission, is shameful,” said FDP parliamentary deputy Alexander Graf Lambsdorff world.
The Taliban, which controlled large parts of Afghanistan from 1996 to the US-led intervention in 2001, are currently conquering one provincial capital after another – including Kunduz, where the Bundeswehr had a large base for years. At the end of June, after almost 20 years, the Bundeswehr withdrew the last soldiers from Afghanistan. The US armed forces are expected to leave the country by the end of August.
Scholz rejects the proposal for a further military operation, as brought up by the CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen at the weekend. “I think another military operation in Afghanistan is not indicated,” he told the NOZ. “After 20 years, the international community has just withdrawn. There are no efforts at national or international level for a renewed effort.” The Federal Ministry of Defense had previously also rejected such considerations.
Almost a quarter of a million new internally displaced persons in Afghanistan
The number of internally displaced persons in Afghanistan has risen massively since the beginning of May. By the end of July, nearly a quarter of a million people in the country had left their villages and towns. The UN Agency for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) put the number at more than 244,000 – more than four times as many as in the same period last year. Most of the internally displaced people fled the provinces in the northeast and east from armed fighting.
A total of about 37 million people live in Afghanistan. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that around 30,000 Afghans leave their country every week. The estimates are based on surveys of migrants and smugglers.
In view of the rising number of victims in Afghanistan, UN emergency aid coordinator Martin Griffiths called for the protection of the civilian population. In July alone, more than a thousand people were killed or injured in attacks in the conflict provinces of Helmand, Kandahar and Herat, he reported on Monday. “I am extremely concerned about the worsening situation,” Griffiths said in a statement from the UN Emergency Response Office in Geneva.
With the start of the official withdrawal of international troops on May 1, the militant Islamist Taliban launched several offensives. In the meantime they have conquered more than 160 of the 400 or so districts, several border crossings and parts of important highways. Since Friday they have brought six provincial capitals under their control, including the city of Kunduz in the north. Now thousands of people are fleeing from there too. These figures are not yet included in the data from the UN agency.
Since the start of the withdrawal, the number of fatalities and injuries in the civilian population has risen significantly. The UN warns that 2021 could be the year with the highest number of civilian casualties. (08/09/2021)
Kramp-Karrenbauer: “Reports from Kunduz and all over Afghanistan are bitter and hurt a lot”
Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer regrets the latest developments in Afghanistan, but is critical of a new deployment of the Bundeswehr in the country. “The reports from Kunduz and from all over Afghanistan are bitter and hurt a lot”, the CDU politician tweeted on Monday. “The current situation in Afghanistan makes the question of ‘why’ even more pressing and goes hand in hand with the desire to stop the Taliban.”
The minister emphasized that the Bundeswehr had fulfilled all the orders given by the Bundestag in Afghanistan. It was achieved that the extremist group al-Qaeda posed no more danger from Afghanistan. In addition, an entire generation of Afghans has better opportunities. This applies above all to women and girls who now have access to education. “What we have apparently not achieved is a permanent and comprehensive positive change in Afghanistan. We should learn from this for the goals of future missions abroad.”
Now it is about humanitarian aid for the country and training and support for the development of “effective statehood”, said Kramp-Karrenbauer. The federal government must also take care of the so-called local staff, 1700 of whom are already in Germany. Anyone who wants a new deployment of the Bundeswehr must ask whether German society and the Bundestag are ready “to go into a tough military conflict again in Afghanistan.”
From Kramp-Karrenbauer’s ministry it is said that it is “not recognizable” that there is a political majority in Germany for a new Bundeswehr mission. “That is why I do not assume that a month after the withdrawal of the German forces we should think about going into a combat mission there again,” said Ministry spokesman Arne Collatz. (08/09/2021)