Former local worker: BND man on the run from the Taliban

After the Taliban came to power, many local workers are still not safe. Even a man who has apparently worked with the BND for years is on the run – and so far hopes in vain for rescue.

Abdul Yusuf Rahman (name changed) was proud of the colorful certificate for a long time, but now it is both a burden and a hope for him. It says that he took part in a short course on “intelligence gathering information”. “With a good result,” he was certified by the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) at what was then the Bundeswehr base in Kundus.

He was a captain and worked for the Afghan Ministry of Defense. “I took several courses at the German BND and worked with him until 2017,” he says. “I gave the intelligence service secret information about government opponents. For four years, from 2013 to the end of 2017, I reported to him.”

Now he is in acute danger, he says, precisely because of his work for the German foreign secret service. His details cannot be fully verified. However, he documents them with various documents, including the BND certificate.

Escape to a neighboring country

Rahman believes that the Taliban had already noticed him in Afghanistan: “After the fall of Kabul, they came to my house with machine guns. That was a serious signal for me to leave the country with my family as soon as possible.”

Rahman actually fled Afghanistan soon afterwards, but he is far from safe. According to information from the ARD Studios South Asia meanwhile in a neighboring country, but he fears being discovered and deported to Afghanistan – with fatal consequences.

Criticism from the Greens, among others

Sahak Ibrahimkhil is German with Afghan roots and is involved in the European Volt party. He wanted to help the former BND contact. But he fell on deaf ears at the Federal Intelligence Service, says Ibrahimkhil:

I’ve been trying to resolve the matter discreetly since mid-August. Unfortunately, all of my inquiries remained virtually unanswered and did not lead to anything. The BND could not be reached by phone for days. When I called the press office of the BND, they only said that the case had been forwarded to the relevant people.

Konstantin von Notz, a member of the Bundestag for the Green Party, also stood up for the BND man. Von Notz is a member of the parliamentary control body that monitors the work of the German secret services. He tried to determine whether Rahman was at least on the list of those in need of protection and would thus get a visa for Germany – in vain:

This and numerous other cases exemplify how devastating it was that the grand coalition waited so long until it was too late. The federal government has abandoned the local staff, who have campaigned for German interests, for the armed forces and for aid organizations for years, and left their families to their fate.

“We feel extremely threatened”

The BND wanted to respond to the request of the ARD Studios South Asia did not comment on the case, nor did the Federal Foreign Office. All that remains for Abdul Yusuf Rahman is the hope that the Germans will contact him after all. Because where he is now, the police have already noticed him and his family: “We feel extremely threatened and are worried about our lives, especially those of my wife and children. I hope that this is a real nightmare has an end soon. “