Does Germany have to talk to the Taliban now?

Clarissa Ward is a brave woman. The CNN reporter continues to report from Kabul – veiled with a headscarf since Sunday. Surrounded by men, the scene in Kabul almost looks a bit like everyday life again, but that is deceptive. The new rulers, the Taliban, are moderate, but people with whom the Tagesspiegel is in contact do not believe a word they say. And Ward reports how the Taliban control the people around the airport. “There are Taliban fighters everywhere, firing warning shots to drive the crowds apart.” Hundreds of them would still try desperately to get into the airport to flee.

Why is there a solution only through the Taliban?

While foreign citizens are left alone, Afghans who want to get out fear repression and being held up at the checkpoints. The Taliban say there should be no brain drain that is needed to rebuild the country. The Federal Intelligence Service and German diplomats have access to the Taliban’s political office in Doha – high hopes are particularly placed on the Afghanistan Special Representative Markus Potzel who has traveled there. They helped, in collaboration with Norway, to facilitate the US negotiations with the Taliban, which began in 2019 and ended in February 2020 with an agreement on the withdrawal of US troops by May 2021, which, like the embassies, were not attacked. Berlin had even offered to host both delegations in Germany, but this did not happen because of the corona pandemic. The government is now also counting on other powers to influence the Taliban. Chancellor Angela Merkel called the Emir of Qatar Thamin Bin Hamid al-Thami on Tuesday. The host of the Taliban’s Political Bureau is said to use his influence on the radical Islamists. Possibly the new rulers will demand a kind of ransom for the departure of local staff. Above all, the Greens accuse the Foreign Minister of delaying preparations for departure. “Heiko Maas’ policy made Germany open to blackmail,” said foreign policy expert Jürgen Trittin in an interview with Tagesspiegel.

What else could help?

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) does not believe that Germany, together with other countries, will diplomatically recognize an Afghan government led by the Taliban. This cannot be decided now, Maas said, according to participants on Wednesday in a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee on a relevant question. It remains to be seen whether there will be a transitional government in Kabul. Recognition would then have to be decided within the EU and together with other partners. Ultimately, we also need assurances in order to find reliable security guarantees and departure commitments for asylum solutions with Kabul in the long term.

Would the situation have been avoidable?

Yes, at least it could have made it possible for many more Afghans to leave for Germany – before the Taliban marched through. If it hadn’t been for a series of misjudgments and blockages. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) is particularly criticized here. Merkel, too, has repeatedly asked on the fringes of cabinet meetings what about charter flights for local staff, but the central blockade did not resolve them either; to do so, she would have had to risk a conflict with Interior Minister Seehofer.

A visa and security check was not possible until the fall of Kabul because of his concerns in Germany. This also canceled several planned charter flights; the German authorities in Afghanistan had recently barely issued any visas on site for security reasons.

Merkel let the internal dispute run for a long time. Two months ago, in mid-June, the interior ministers’ conference of the federal states had asked the federal government to quickly take on local staff from Afghanistan. Provisions for an “accelerated and flexible processing” of the visa procedure should be made, as well as a “streamlining and acceleration” by means of “Visa on arrival”, ie after arrival in Germany. Many local workers are now trapped in Kabul after the Taliban invaded the country. Who can now be added to the flight lists in the chaotic situation is completely open, Merkel has named the number of 10,000 people (including family members).

But just people who have subcontracted for the armed forces and other organizations have so far no prospect of rescue – but the Taliban will hardly differentiate between directly and indirectly employed. There is hope that the Taliban have so far refrained from extensive retaliatory measures; but the fear is that once the west’s military action is over, everything will change.

British Forces Commander General Nick Carter is positive about working with the radical Islamist Taliban to evacuate British citizens and local staff. “We work with the Taliban, who ensure security,” Carter told BBC 4. The Taliban made sure that the center of the capital Kabul was very quiet.

Will Germany continue to pay money to Afghanistan?

Shortly before the fall of Kabul, Foreign Minister Maas had declared that Germany would not transfer “a cent” to Kabul if the Taliban took power, introduced Sharia law and made the country a caliphate. In fact, the federal government stopped development aid. “State development cooperation is currently suspended,” said Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU). Afghanistan is considered to be the country with by far the highest aid payments; a large part of the state budget is financed from abroad. It has also been number one among the recipient countries For this year, 250 million euros were estimated. In addition, funds from other departments have so far flowed to Afghanistan, for example for humanitarian aid or police training. Germany had pledged 430 million euros for this year. The categorical announcement by Maas (“not a cent But development experts consider it problematic. Germany will hardly be able to refuse to support particularly vulnerable groups of people in Afghans because, for example, one cannot just stand by and watch a famine in the country, even if it is controlled by radical Islamists, at least they say in the context of d the UN World Food Program would then probably continue to flow aid to Afghanistan.

What is the status of the rescue operation?

German government circles report that the cooperation with the US armed forces, which control the military part of the airport, is working better and better. And the German soldiers would do a brilliant job in a chaotic and dangerous environment. The people on the lists are admitted to the military section via a separate checkpoint operated by the Bundeswehr. According to the Foreign Ministry, 189 Germans had been flown out of Kabul by Wednesday afternoon. There are also 202 Afghan citizens, 59 EU citizens and 51 people from other countries. There are three landing and take-off permits per day for the military aircraft of the German Armed Forces of the type A400M; in the best case scenario, they can fly around 500 passengers a day to Tashkent in Uzbekistan, from where Lufthansa planes travel to Germany.

How long can the mission last?

Especially as long as the US armed forces can keep the airport open, so far the Taliban have let them go. The cabinet decided on the evacuation operation retrospectively on Wednesday, and the Bundestag is to follow on August 25. According to the mandate, up to 600 soldiers are to be deployed. The risky evacuation operation at the airport in the Afghan capital can last until September 30th at the latest. “Within the framework of the available capacities, the evacuation should also extend to personnel of the international community and other signed persons, including particularly vulnerable representatives of Afghan civil society,” said Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) in the cover letter. and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD). “The additional expenditures for the deployment of armed German armed forces due to deployment will probably total around 40 million euros by September 30, 2021,” report the ministers who are under pressure – and emphasize: “The situation is extremely confusing.”