After the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr: Afghan local forces on their own

“We will not let you down” – was the promise made by the German government to the Afghan armed forces. But there are doubts about that: the German troops are at home, the Afghans are still there.

It is also thanks to Zabiullah Fayaz that the Bundeswehr was not in the dark in its largest field camp outside Germany, and that air conditioning protected it from the merciless heat. The electrician kept the generators running at the Masar-i-Sharif camp. Now Fayaz has to fear for his life. “Last year I lost my uncle and my three cousins. The Taliban killed them,” says the Afghan.

Fayaz is stuck in Mazar-i-Sharif. He cannot go back to his home village because of the vengeful Taliban. Getting through to Kabul is too dangerous for him too. And in Mazar itself there is no contact point where he can report his endangerment.

The federal government had already promised such a local staff office for the beginning of June, but it has not yet opened, as confirmed by the spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office, Andrea Sasse. For security reasons: “Of course we regret this decision. But because it concerns security interests, it is understandable from our point of view.”

USA wants to bring local workers to safe third countries

When and whether the opening can be made up is completely unclear. The next German office, where Fayaz could also audition, is in the capital, Kabul. The way there is life-threatening because the Taliban had brought more and more areas under their control in recent weeks.

In any case, the German soldiers are now safely at home – but hundreds of their Afghan helpers are still there. And on their own: “With the departure of the last aircraft, some things went psychologically broken among the people who had hoped that we would bring them to safety. Other nations brought their local staff to safety beforehand,” says Marcus Grotian, who himself Was a soldier in Afghanistan in 2011 and now runs a sponsorship network for Afghan aid workers from Potsdam.

Indeed, the US has announced that it will fly thousands of Afghan workers to safe third countries so that they can take their time to apply for visas. As far as the helpers of the Germans are concerned, however, not even those who already have a promise or a visa can be sure of escaping the Taliban’s revenge.

Local staff have to pay for flights themselves

Because: They have to take care of the flights that bring them to safety and pay for them out of their own pocket. Soldier Grotian is not the only one who demands that the Federal Republic should long ago have chartered flights for those who once defied the extremists shoulder to shoulder with the German soldiers: “The airport in Mazar-i-Sharif is still open, there are flights still planes in and out. That could still be used. ”

However, there is no sign of the federal government giving in. When asked, the Ministry of the Interior clarified that the “independent departure” procedure had proven its worth.

The Ministry of the Interior took a long time

Now it is not as if the government did not move at all: After a long dispute, the circle of those who were basically authorized to leave the country had been expanded to include all those who had been working for the Bundeswehr since 2013. Horst Seehofer’s ministry of the interior stonewalled here for a long time, while Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s defense department insisted on a more generous regulation. Afghans no longer have to make their way to Pakistan or India to apply for a visa, as they did until recently. Around 2,400 such visas have been issued.

But that doesn’t change the fact that hundreds or even thousands of other Afghans are now having to live with the fear that the Taliban will track them down before they can start the journey to Germany to save them. “If the Taliban come here and kill the people, who is responsible?” Asks Fayaz, who is trapped in Mazar-i-Sharif. This is the question, he thinks, that Germans should ask their government.