Status: 08/14/2022 04:14 a.m
After criticism from politicians and civil society, Interior Minister Faeser promised the former local staff remaining in Afghanistan that they would leave the country quickly. The biggest problem is getting particularly threatened people out of the country.
One year after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the German government promised the former local Bundeswehr personnel who remained in the country to continue traveling to Germany. “We won’t leave them behind,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the “Bild am Sonntag.”
She is working with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on the new federal admissions program for local Afghan workers, Faeser said, but admitted: “The biggest problem is getting people who are particularly at risk out of Afghanistan.” In the meantime, 15,759 Afghan local workers and family members have been brought to Germany.
Criticism from “Pro Asyl” to the federal government
The organization Pro Asyl had previously criticized that the federal government was not sufficiently implementing its promise to save people at risk. She called for the local staff procedure to be reformed and for family reunification to be accelerated. The number of people who should get protection is far too small.
The definition of who is considered a local employee must include all those at risk, for example subcontractors who have worked for the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), said Pro-Asyl Managing Director Günter Burkhardt.
The number of asylum seekers has risen significantly this year, said the interior minister. “From January to July, 113,000 asylum applications were made, 17 percent more than in the same period last year.” In addition, 965,000 people have fled to Germany from the war in Ukraine. However, many refugees have returned or traveled on.
Afghanistan’s ex-president expects more refugees
The President of Afghanistan, who was overthrown by the Taliban, Ashraf Ghani, told “Bild am Sonntag” that he was expecting many refugees from his homeland in the coming months. “Millions will try to flee Afghanistan,” he said in his exile in Abu Dhabi. “The reason is that people lose the sense of belonging. They lose hope.”
One year after leaving Afghanistan: many helpers from the Bundeswehr are waiting to leave the country
Kerstin Breining, RBB, daily topics 11:25 p.m., August 14, 2022
“Without local staff, it will not work in the future either”
The former Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defense, Peter Tauber, warned that it must be clarified at the beginning of a Bundeswehr operation how to deal with local forces in the future. “Without local forces, Bundeswehr missions will not work in the future either,” said Tauber. “If we want to get people to support our soldiers in action, we have to offer these people a perspective,” said the CDU politician.