After a difficult start, the evacuation operation of the German armed forces in Afghanistan is picking up speed. Another military transport with around 180 people on board started in the capital Kabul on Wednesday. This means that more than 400 people from more than 15 countries have already been flown out by the German military.
At the same time, the federal government brought the legal basis for the deployment in motion. According to the draft mandate approved by the cabinet, up to 600 soldiers should be deployed by the end of September at the latest. The operation is estimated to be around 40 million euros.
The mission began on Monday under dramatic conditions. The two Bundeswehr aircraft of the type A400M could not land for a long time because the airport was chaotic. Hundreds of Afghans tried desperately to be picked up by US armed forces planes and temporarily blocked the tarmac. In the meantime the situation has calmed down somewhat. Four flights to the hub in the Uzbek capital Tashkent are planned for Wednesday. From there, Lufthansa continues to Germany.
The first 130 evacuees arrived in Frankfurt am Main that night. All Afghans who were flown out and who were on board the aircraft are initially to be cared for in a reception facility in Hamburg. This was announced by a spokesman for the federal police. In the first plane there were 17 to 19 people with Afghan passports.
The Bundestag should decide the client next week
The Bundestag is due to vote next week on the text of the mandate approved by the Federal Cabinet. The consent is considered certain. Parliament must approve every armed deployment by the Bundeswehr. In exceptional cases, this is also possible retrospectively, especially if there is imminent danger. According to the government, this applies to the evacuation operation, in which German citizens and Afghan helpers in particular are to be flown out by the Bundeswehr and federal ministries.
“The sending of armed German forces cannot be postponed,” says a letter from Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) and Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) to the draft mandate that the German Press Agency has received. “Any further waiting until the German Bundestag has finally made a decision could call the successful implementation of the German forces into question or at least make it much more difficult and thus also endanger the life and limb of the people to be protected.”
It is a so-called robust mandate that also allows the use of military force, “in particular to protect the people to be evacuated and our own forces, as well as in the context of emergency aid”.
Paratroopers trained for evacuations, the KSK elite unit, but also military police, paramedics and air force crews are deployed. The mission is considered to be the Bundeswehr’s largest evacuation mission to date.
The militant Islamist Taliban had brought Afghanistan under their control at a rapid pace and effectively took power in the country on Sunday. Many countries – including Germany – are trying as quickly as possible to fly out their own compatriots and Afghans who, for example, have worked for the armed forces of other countries or international organizations and who now fear acts of revenge by the Taliban.
The Bundeswehr began an airlift to rescue Germans and Afghans on Tuesday. 129 people were flown from Kabul to the Uzbek capital Tashkent in a transport plane. From there it went to Frankfurt with a chartered Lufthansa Airbus. (dpa)
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