As of: 08/29/2021 8:50 a.m.
In order to be able to continue humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, France and Great Britain want a “safe” UN zone in Kabul. CSU boss Söder, on the other hand, sees the EU as having an obligation.
The international evacuation mission in Afghanistan is coming to an end, the US troop withdrawal is imminent. In order to be able to continue humanitarian operations in the country, France and Great Britain want to lobby the United Nations for the creation of a “safe zone” in the capital Kabul. The French President Emmanuel Macron announced in an interview with the newspaper “Journal du Dimanche”. This could create a UN framework for emergencies, clarify responsibilities and “allow the international community to maintain pressure on the Taliban,” said Macron.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council – France, Great Britain, the USA, Russia and China – will discuss the situation in Afghanistan on Monday. France ended its evacuation flights on Friday and the UK on Saturday.
Söder calls for an EU mission
CSU leader Markus Söder sees the EU as having an obligation to enable further evacuation flights from Afghanistan. In “Bild am Sonntag” he spoke out in favor of a “European protection zone” at Kabul airport and called for immediate negotiations. Europe must finally coordinate itself consistently militarily. This requires a European Security Council and a powerful military unit to protect German and European citizens in emergencies.
“Europe stands on the fringes of world affairs and is not in a position to provide guarantees of protection even for its own citizens in Kabul. Without the Americans we are helpless. In Europe we are talking about more independence, but we cannot even secure an airport.” A new strategy for military operations is needed.
Completion of the Bundeswehr mission in Afghanistan
Daniel Pokraka, ARD Berlin, daily news 8:00 p.m., 8/28/2021
Apparently only a few local workers flown out
According to US data, a total of more than 112,000 people have left Afghanistan via the US-coordinated airlift. According to a newspaper report, only a few former local staff were brought to safety with the evacuation flights of the Bundeswehr. The Federal Ministry of the Interior presented the corresponding first figures this week in the Bundestag, among other places, reports “Welt am Sonntag”. Accordingly, there were only 101 local workers with their families among those who were flown out. In total, this group makes up around 500 people.
In view of the confusing evacuations from Kabul, however, it is assumed that several local staff may currently be in other European countries. The Federal Ministry of the Interior left a request unanswered, according to the newspaper. According to the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, 5,300 people from Kabul have now been brought to safety.
Baerbock: “Fiasco with announcement”
The German government has come under massive criticism for not having flown out Afghan local workers and other people at risk before the radical Islamic Taliban came to power. “Pulling the troops out headlong was a fiasco with an announcement,” said the Greens chairman and candidate for Chancellor Annalena Baerbock to the newspapers of the Funke media group. Instead of rescuing the local staff from the Taliban, the German government bury its head in the sand – for fear of talking about Afghanistan in the election campaign. Bad decisions by the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Development, the Ministry of the Interior and the Chancellery led to this catastrophe: “Even Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz cannot duck here,” said Baerbock.
The government must bring all Germans, local workers and particularly vulnerable people such as journalists, women’s rights activists and human rights defenders and their families from the country to safety.
Seehofer: tighten border controls
If there are now large new movements of refugees from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) wants to tighten border controls. “Not everyone who wants to come to our country is allowed to enter,” said Seehofer of “Bild am Sonntag”.
Watch the refugee movements from these countries very closely. The security authorities noticed seven Afghans during controls after the Bundeswehr’s evacuation flights from Kabul in Germany. Three had forged documents with them, and four others were criminals who had already been deported to Afghanistan.