After the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan, the Islamist Taliban took power in the country – and are redesigning it according to their ideas. The most important developments in the news blog.
The security situation around Kabul airport worsens considerably a few days before the presumed end of the militarily secured rescue mission. The German embassy in Afghanistan and other agencies warn of the risk of terrorism around the airport in the Afghan capital. “Due to the security threats at the gates of Kabul Airport, we advise US citizens not to travel to the airport at the moment and to avoid the gates of the airport”, announced the US embassy – without specifying the threat situation in more detail. At the same time, time is dwindling to get people out of Afghanistan.
US citizens who are currently at Abbey Gate, East Gate or North Gate should “leave the area immediately,” warned the US mission in Kabul. The UK government has urged citizens near the airport to go to a safe place and wait for further instructions. She spoke in her travel advice of a “continued high threat of terrorist attacks”. The German embassy warned German citizens of shootings and terrorist attacks in a letter.
The Australian government in Canberra urged Australian citizens and visa holders at Kabul airport to leave the area immediately. “There is a persistent and very high threat of a terrorist attack,” said Foreign Secretary Marise Payne.
The Bundeswehr had already reported on Tuesday that there were an increasing number of potential suicide bombers from the terrorist organization Islamic State in Kabul. US President Joe Biden had made a similar statement. A local branch of IS tries to attack the airport practically every day, he said. The terrorist militia is also a “declared enemy” of the militant Islamist Taliban.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer pointed out the increasing time pressure. The time window for rescues – which she did not define in any more detail – is also becoming smaller, “because the threat situation is growing in a very specific way with a view to terrorist attacks on those who are to be evacuated, but also on the soldiers,” said the CDU -Politician on ZDF- “heute journal”. (08/26/2021)
The last German rescue flight may already be this Thursday
The German government is planning to end the military rescue flights from Afghanistan before the weekend. The last flight of the airlift for German citizens and local workers at risk could already be organized this Thursday. The government is responding to the US adherence to the August 31 withdrawal date. Initially, the business magazine Business Insider reported.
A defense ministry spokesman said he could neither deny nor confirm media reports on it. The Federal Foreign Office announced on Twitter, more than 4,500 people have been flown out so far, including 3,700 Afghans, about half of whom are women and children. According to its own statements, the federal government continues to speak to representatives of the Taliban in order to be able to bring people out of the country after August 31. The end of the airlift is not synonymous with an end to these efforts, says a spokesman for the Foreign Office in Berlin. An evacuation with civil flights or a transport of people by land to the neighboring countries of Afghanistan is possible.
According to the head of the Bundeswehr Association, the fact that the USA wants to pull out of Afghanistan at the end of the month will increase the pressure in Kabul. André Wüstner pointed out in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin” that other terrorist groups were also increasingly active in the capital that was taken over by the militant Islamic Taliban. You would certainly try to “draw attention to yourself again,” as he said.
The Europeans realized that they would now have to prepare smaller units for the withdrawal. Of course, the Bundeswehr is also planning options for a quick withdrawal. She must now see that she is bringing out as many local German helpers with their relatives as possible via the airport and that the soldiers will come back safely. Then you have to see that you can bring people out overland, for example across the northern border. But: “We know that we can’t help everyone at the moment,” said Wüstner. “You will not be able to keep all promises.”
“We have to learn lessons from this fiasco,” demanded Wüstner, criticizing the dependence on the USA. Europe is not able to act. Without the USA in the back, “German politics, European politics, just observers of great and tragic events” https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/. “That means that in the next government you have to think about how to do it developed his own military options for action. And of course that also means finally turning words into deeds and empowering the military accordingly. ” (08/25/2021)
Taliban promise to leave the country after US troops have withdrawn
In the negotiations with the German government, the Taliban promised that Afghans would be allowed to leave the country after the US troop withdrawal planned for August 31. German negotiator Markus Potzel tweeted this after talks with the deputy head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, Shir Mohammed Abbas Staneksai.
He had assured him that Afghans with valid identification documents will still have the opportunity to travel on commercial flights after August 31. The withdrawal of the US troops means an end to the evacuation flights of the Bundeswehr in the coming days. Potzel is negotiating with the Taliban how things can go afterwards. The federal government wants to continue to bring German citizens and vulnerable Afghans out of the country by civil flights from Kabul. It’s about several thousand people (08/25/2021)
US military withdraws “several hundred” soldiers
The US military has said it has reduced its troop presence at Kabul Airport by “several hundred” soldiers. Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said that this was part of the normal decision-making power of the local commander during an ongoing operation. These include headquarters employees, maintenance specialists and other soldiers whose mission at the airport has been completed, he said. The US military last had around 5,800 soldiers there.
Kirby stressed that the routine withdrawal of some troops did not mark the beginning of the withdrawal of all soldiers from Afghanistan. This was not ordered at this point, he said. US President Joe Biden is sticking to the plan to withdraw the troops by August 31, next Tuesday. He has also asked the Pentagon and the State Department to propose alternative plans if they should become necessary. (08/25/2021)
Deadlines for taking on local staff extended
The German government has once again relaxed the conditions for accepting its former Afghan local staff. From now on, everyone who has been under contract with the armed forces or the federal ministries since 2013 should be able to come to Germany. A corresponding report by world confirmed the Ministry of Development and the Federal Foreign Office. Previous employees of these two ministries could only submit an application if they had been employed there for the past two years. The Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior had already extended the deadline to 2013 in June.
How many local workers will be affected remains unclear. Up to the time the Taliban came to power, 1,100 Afghans were still working for the Development Ministry, but recently only a “middle two-digit number” for the Foreign Office.
The sponsorship network for Afghan local forces in the Bundeswehr had accused the federal government of “failing to provide assistance” in dealing with former employees in the crisis state. One was bitter about it to such an extent that “we cannot put it into words,” said chairman Marcus Grotian. He primarily blamed the Federal Chancellery. There you would have had the opportunity to bring together the different interests of the ministries, he said. The government headquarters did not respond to five letters from the network in June and July. (08/24/2021)