Bundeswehr evacuation mission: more than 900 people flown out to date

The armed forces continued their evacuation flights from Kabul during the night – a total of more than 900 people have now been flown out. Conditions are still chaotic at the airport in the Afghan capital.

The Bundeswehr has flown more than 900 people from Kabul so far. At around 3 a.m., an A400M with 211 people on board landed in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, the Bundeswehr operations command announced on Twitter. From there they are to be brought to Germany. During the day, the evacuation will continue with further flights

Two planes from Tashkent landed in Frankfurt am Main early in the morning with hundreds of people on board who had previously been brought to safety from Afghanistan. In total, the two planes from Lufthansa and Uzbekistan Airways carried around 500 people.

Further chaos at Kabul airport

After landing, passengers reported terrible experiences and chaotic conditions at the airport in Kabul. One man said he saw dead people and heard gunshots. “It’s awful. Helplessness, hopelessness. Just chaos.” At the airport you also have to go through a Taliban barrier. Afghan security forces shot. He heard how people died.

To the ARD Studio New Delhi opposite reported local staff who should actually be flown out that they would not come to the Bundeswehr aircraft. Chaos reigns in front of the airport entrance, even at night. There are always warning shots, tear gas is used.

“Fly out as many people as possible”

After the first rescue flights, Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said yesterday that this could only be the beginning. Germany wants to fly out as many people as possible. According to the Foreign Office, 189 Germans and 202 Afghan nationals were among the passengers on the first four German flights – for example family members of German nationals and local staff from German organizations.

The so-called airlift is to be continued as long as the security situation allows. The planes would be used to capacity as much as possible. “We have to assume that the time window is limited,” Maas told the press. Those involved tried to make full use of the period.

The German ambassador Markus Potzel is said to have arrived in Doha, where he held initial talks with representatives of the Taliban. However, these have so far remained without results. “So far, we have not had any reliable security promises that the Taliban will allow Afghan nationals to pass freely to the airport,” said Maas. The talks would continue today. The diplomat wants to work towards “that local staff can also go to the airport and can also be flown out”. So far, apparently only a few local workers have managed to do this.

Bundeswehr Association: “Political Disaster”

The chairman of the German Armed Forces Association, André Wüstner, spoke in ARD morning magazine given the situation and the late start of evacuations from a “political disaster”. The inspector general of the Bundeswehr had evacuation plans drawn up months ago. You are prepared around the clock. “But it is always a question of the political assessment of the situation, of the political decision. And that was made very late.”

Many Bundeswehr soldiers are concerned with the question of whether the loss of human life, failed marriages and trauma were worth the effort in Afghanistan. Confidence in politics is lost. “The issue of responsibility still needs to be discussed.”

Biden: Soldiers at the airport stay longer if necessary

The US military has meanwhile flown almost 6,000 people from Afghanistan, according to government sources. The aim is actually to get 5,000 to 9,000 people to safety every day. But the chaotic conditions around the airport in Kabul made the evacuation more difficult, it said.

US President Joe Biden assured in an interview with broadcaster ABC that the US soldiers at Kabul Airport could, if necessary, stay beyond the planned departure date on August 31, if not all Americans wishing to leave have been evacuated by then. “If there are still American citizens there, we’ll stay until we get them all out.”