Germany: Months after the fall of Kabul trying to save 20,000 Afghans

About 20,000 Afghans are still waiting to arrive in Germany, four and a half months after the overthrow of the Western-backed Taliban government in that country, which led to a mass exodus.

The figures, provided by the German Interior Ministry in response to a question from the German News Agency (dpa), show variations. Some of them may have arrived in a third country after their initial contact with the Germans in their attempt to leave the country.

Many of those who worked for the German forces or German services operating in the country when NATO forces were based there and now consider themselves in danger.

As of December 27, Germany was counting 1,348 such people it had transported to Germany. Including their dependent family members, this number is 5,437.

The rest of the list are human rights activists, artists, scientists, journalists and others whom the German government considers to be in danger. The German government says it has relocated 466 of them to its territory, bringing the number to 1,462 if their dependent family members are included.

Gokai Akbulut, a member of the German left-wing party Die Linke, described the figures as “absolutely inadequate”, noting that the Taliban had launched a number of attacks on people who had helped the previous government since taking power.

The German government says evacuating people remains its top priority. Since the fall of Kabul, 670 people have been evacuated from Kabul by special flights. In addition, it has brought 3,800 Afghans to Germany on flights from Islamabad. The most recent departed on Thursday, December 30, 2021.

Since the Taliban came to power, German officials have issued at least 5,900 entry visas for people trying to leave Afghanistan.

Source: AMPE