Status: 07/09/2021 7:22 p.m.
The Bundeswehr is withdrawing from Afghanistan – and what about the Afghans who worked for them? The federal government is letting them down, say critics. The government promised more help, but remained vague.
The federal government promises help to the Afghan local staff who remained in the Hindu Kush after the German troops withdrew. Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said: “We will help – and we are already helping them – who have helped us (…) and we know the responsibility we have for these people.” Not everything could be made public about the details of the aid, “but there is certainly a great deal going on.”
During the time the Bundeswehr was in Afghanistan, many locals also worked for them – for example as translators, cooks or cleaners. According to experts, these so-called local workers are only threatened by acts of revenge by the radical Islamic Taliban.
Local staff have to pay for the flight themselves
Where there is an urgent wish to leave the country because of an acute risk, the federal government will endeavor to make this exit possible, said Seibert. So far, around 2,400 visas have been issued for local workers and their close relatives. According to its own statements, the government wants to approve all Afghan employees of the armed forces and police who have applied for a visa for Germany from 2013 onwards. According to the Defense Ministry, “a few hundred” local Afghan workers have come to Germany so far.
Getting a visa is just one of the problems. Because the Afghans have to organize and pay for the flight to Germany themselves – which is hardly possible for many. Left chairwoman Janine Wissler called it “irresponsible”. It is completely incomprehensible why the local staff were not flown to Germany with the troops.
“I can’t put into words the moral failure”
The development policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Christoph Hoffmann, also criticized that only helpers from the Bundeswehr and the police were still being considered. The federal government must quickly ensure that all endangered local workers in Germany can seek protection, including those from development cooperation. “Anyone who has campaigned for Afghanistan’s development in German or international projects is in immediate danger.”
The chairman of the Afghan local staff sponsorship network, Marcus Grotian, chose even clearer words. “I cannot put into words the moral failure that I perceive here,” said Grotian, who as a first lieutenant in the Bundeswehr himself was stationed in Afghanistan, told the editorial network Germany. “A lot of cogs turn. But they don’t interlock.” As a result, hundreds of Afghan local workers would still be there without valid exit papers.
The German government refers to the United Nations International Organization for Migration, but it does not have an office at the former Bundeswehr base in Mazar-i-Sharif, but only one in the capital, Kabul, said Grotian. The government also admits that the trip to Kabul, more than 400 kilometers away, is not easy because of the advance of the Taliban. For security reasons, no office has yet been opened in Mazar-i-Sharif. The local staff from the region could, however, contact the office in Kabul by phone or email.