It’s a cry for help: numerous media have joined forces and appealed to the federal government to rescue their employees from Afghanistan.
The situation in Afghanistan is dramatic: the troops of the radical Islamic Taliban have been conquering more and more territories for weeks, and are now standing on the outskirts of the capital Kabul. Apparently, the federal government was surprised by the speed of the advance, so far evacuation flights were only planned for the end of August.
But there won’t be so much time left. And concerns about the revenge of the Taliban are growing. Now numerous media have joined forces and in a joint letter appealed to the federal government to save their employees from the embattled city.
Visa emergency program for Afghan employees
The letter is addressed directly to Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and describes itself as a “cry for help”: For 20 years the German public and politics have been provided with reports from the country. What was only possible through the support of numerous Afghan employees who, for example, supported the local journalists on site.
“Over the years, they too have shared our belief in the free press as an indispensable element of a stable, peaceful, balanced democracy – a value that the German government has strongly supported in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.” But the lives of these people are now endangered by the advance of the Taliban.
A visa emergency program for Afghan employees of German media companies is required. “We are convinced that there is now no more time to lose. Our employees who want to leave the country face persecution, arrest, torture and death. We therefore ask you to act quickly.”
Numerous media have joined the initiative, including the magazines “Zeit” and “Spiegel”, the daily newspapers “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” and “taz”, the radio stations Deutsche Welle, Deutschlandradio, the news agency DPA, Reporters Without Borders as well as the television channels RTL, n-tv, Arte and MDR. One of the co-signers is also the stern.
Read the full text of the appeal here
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