Evacuation mission in Afghanistan: Bundeswehr airlift could end on Friday

To ARD-Information, the airlift from Kabul could end on Friday. In view of the chaotic situation, the head of the Bundeswehr association sharply criticized politics and called for lessons to be learned “from this fiasco”.

The Bundeswehr evacuation flights to Kabul could end on Friday or Saturday. The Bundeswehr and the Federal Foreign Office agree with the ARD declared in the Uzbek capital Tashkent. All machines that bring people from Kabul to Germany land in Tashkent. Flights are currently only planned until Friday.

Union foreign politicians did not want to confirm the date. Neither the chairman of the CDU / CSU parliamentary group in the Foreign Affairs Committee, Roderich Kiesewetter, nor the foreign policy spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, Jürgen Hardt, wanted to join the ARD comment on a date. “It remains our goal to carry out this operation as long as possible in order to evacuate as many people as possible in the direction of Uzbekistan,” said Hardt in the SWR.

Wüstner: “Currently we can’t help everyone”

During the evacuation mission, the German Armed Forces felt the pressure from the US holding onto the withdrawal date August 31. With the withdrawal of international troops, the most dangerous part of the mission began. The number of soldiers protecting the airport is decreasing. At the same time, the desperation of the people who still hope for a rescue from the Taliban is growing.

“That will increase the pressure again,” said the chairman of the Bundeswehr Association, André Wüstner, in the joint morning magazine of ARD and ZDF. He also pointed out that other terrorist groups were also increasingly active in the capital, which had been taken over by the militant Islamic Taliban. You would certainly try to “draw attention to yourself again,” as he said.

According to Wüstner’s statement, the Europeans noticed that they now had to prepare smaller units for the withdrawal. 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. At the same time, Wüstner also made it clear: “We know that we can’t help everyone at the moment.” All promises will not be able to be kept.

Bundeswehr flies out more than 4,600 people

Wüstner called for lessons to be learned “from this fiasco”. Europe is not able to act. Without the USA behind him, “German politics, European politics, just observers of great and tragic events”. In the next government you have to think about how you can develop your own military options for action. “And of course that also means finally turning words into deeds and empowering the military accordingly.”

US President Joe Biden wants to hold on to the withdrawal of US troops by next Tuesday, although many thousands of Afghans are still hoping to leave. The allies rely on US forces to secure the airport. Most recently, the Bundeswehr flew a total of 983 people from Kabul in one day with five planes. 4,654 people have been taken out of the country since the airlift began.