Status: 23.12.2021 4:02 p.m.
Foreign Minister Baerbock wants to expand the opportunities for vulnerable Afghans to leave the country. She announced this in an action plan for the country. Afghanistan is also threatened with the “greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time”.
The federal government wants to accelerate and expand the evacuation of particularly vulnerable people from Afghanistan. For this purpose, bureaucratic hurdles in issuing visas are to be removed, as Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in Berlin when presenting an action plan for Afghanistan. About 15,000 people who have been accepted from Germany are still in the country, said Baerbock. Bringing these people to safety is a top priority for the federal government. “You are not forgotten,” said Baerbock. “We are working flat out to get everyone to safety.”
Under the rule of the radical Islamic Taliban, women and girls in particular suffered, Baerbock emphasized. For them, “every day counts these days”. The Foreign Minister announced stronger networking with civil society actors in Afghanistan in order to accelerate the departure of vulnerable Afghans with German acceptance of admission.
Together with the Federal Ministry of the Interior, they want to remove hurdles in the visa process in order not to lose precious months in the evacuation, affirmed Baerbock. In certain cases, this could mean digital data collection and security checks before departure and issuing a visa in transit countries or upon arrival in Germany.
Create more exit routes
In addition, according to her, there should be a “new attempt” in talks with Afghanistan’s neighbors about additional exit routes. So far, the federal government has only been able to fly people in need of protection through Qatar and Pakistan as part of its evacuation program.
Since the Taliban came to power in August, more than 10,000 people have emigrated with the help of the federal government, 5300 of them in the course of the military evacuation, said Baerbock. According to her, there are still 135 German citizens in Afghanistan. They have not yet left the country “also due to individual circumstances”.
Afghanistan is heading for a humanitarian catastrophe
Baerbock also referred to the plight of the general population in Afghanistan. The humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan are catastrophic: malnutrition, onset of winter, scarcity of drinking water and poor health care. The country is steering “before our very eyes into the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of our time”. Hundreds of thousands of children should not be allowed to starve there. Large parts of the economy have collapsed since the Taliban came to power, and many people are already starving.
In order to be able to better help the people in Afghanistan in this catastrophic situation and to be able to make a direct assessment of the situation, the federal government wants to be represented in the country again soon with its own staff, said Baerbock. The aim is to be “able to work on site again” as early as next year. “That means no political legitimation or even recognition of the Taliban regime,” emphasized the Green politician. “We are committed to the people of Afghanistan – not the Taliban.”
Baerbock welcomed the recent decision by the UN Security Council to facilitate humanitarian aid for Afghanistan. On Wednesday, the UN body unanimously approved a resolution submitted by the United States, with which the disbursement of funds and credits as well as the provision of goods and “necessary services” are permitted, despite the sanctions imposed on the Taliban, if they are to improve humanitarianism Situation in the country. The regulation will initially apply for one year. With the resolution of the UN Security Council, the states also want to prevent a large movement of refugees from Afghanistan.
According to the UN, 24 million people need help
According to the United Nations, 24 million people – and thus more than half of the population – will depend on humanitarian aid in Afghanistan this winter. According to Baerbock, Germany is the largest humanitarian donor in Afghanistan with 600 million euros. The aid comes exclusively through the United Nations and other independent organizations, emphasized Baerbock. This ensures “that aid arrives where it is needed most – and not to the Taliban”.
The German aid focuses on “Save the Children” projects in the provinces of Balch and Kandahar and on “Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe”, which operates mobile clinics for people in need in the capital Kabul with the help of German funds.
Girls should also be able to attend schools
Baerbock also announced that the federal government in Afghanistan wanted to help ensure that as many children as possible could go to school. Financial support for the salaries of teachers, for example, should be linked to the fact that girls can also attend schools and women can also work as teachers.
Baerbock emphasized several times that the aid for the country did not involve recognition of the rule of the Taliban.