After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, German politicians expect hundreds of thousands to want to leave the country. But the question of how such a misjudgment of the situation could come about is also a concern of politics.
After the radical Islamic Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the CDU secret service expert Roderich Kiesewetter demanded that the secret services, who were surprised by the rapid advance, be resolved. “We must learn lessons from the experiences in Afghanistan for the organization of the services,” said the chairman of the parliamentary control body, the Bundestag body responsible for the secret services, the newspapers of the Funke media group.
“You have to ask yourself whether it is still right to separate between domestic and foreign intelligence services,” said Kiesewetter. He also called for a “Federal Security Council, which develops science-based trend analyzes or scenarios, evaluates operations and prepares decisions” and “better policy advice”. It was not a good thing that Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) said in June that his scenarios did not assume that Kabul would be taken.
Seehofer expects hundreds of thousands of Afghans to flee
German politicians expect hundreds of thousands of people to flee Afghanistan. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) spoke on Monday, according to information from the DPA, when the parliamentary group leaders in the Bundestag were briefed on 300,000 to five million other Afghans who could flee. He did not name a period. The German Association of Cities insisted on help for Afghanistan’s neighboring countries and a national strategy to take in refugees. Federal Development Minister Gerd Müller (CSU) called for a European effort to help refugees.
After the withdrawal of foreign troops, the Taliban had advanced at a surprisingly rapid pace and had taken practically all provincial capitals and Kabul – often without a fight. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) admitted mistakes on Monday. “All of us – the federal government, the intelligence services, the international community – we have misjudged the situation.”
Bundeswehr flies off quickly after landing
On Monday evening, a Bundeswehr transport aircraft of the type A400M landed at the airport in Kabul under difficult conditions. The machine dropped paratroopers, took people to be fled on board and quickly took off again. The paratroopers of the Rapid Forces Division are now supposed to help US soldiers restore order at the airport and enable the evacuation to proceed safely. The Bundeswehr machine had previously circled over the airport for five hours, which was temporarily closed due to chaotic conditions on the tarmac.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to provide up to 600 Bundeswehr soldiers to secure the evacuation operation. That was what the CDU politician said on Monday in Berlin during the briefing of the parliamentary group leaders in the Bundestag, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel also took part. In addition to the paratroopers, police officers and paramedics are also said to be deployed. The Federal Cabinet wants to pass their draft mandate on Wednesday, the Bundestag should decide on it in the coming week.
Laschet calls for “relentless” reappraisal
Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet announced a “relentless” reappraisal of why the situation in Afghanistan was misjudged. He said on Monday in the ARD “Tagesthemen”: “I promise: Everything will be cleared up, we have to draw conclusions.” In such operations, Germany must consider what the goal is. “How do you go in in an orderly manner? And how do you go out in an orderly manner? How can we Europeans become more capable of acting ourselves?” In the case of Afghanistan, Germany is almost entirely dependent on the decision of the Americans. “The Bundestag mandate for the operation lasted until 2022. But after the Americans have said that they are withdrawing, Europe is, the Bundeswehr is not able to stay alone in such a country,” explained Laschet.
The opposition renewed its allegations against the federal government of having started the evacuation too late. Left faction leader Dietmar Bartsch told the newspapers of the Funke media group: “The fact that the local staff were not evacuated with the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr weeks ago is an inexcusable failure of the defense minister and the foreign minister.” FDP parliamentary group deputy Alexander Graf Lambsdorff told the “Passauer Neue Presse” that the failure of the federal government could cost lives. He called for an Afghanistan Enquête Commission to be set up to investigate what was going on after the federal elections.
Afghans are to be cared for in neighboring countries
The aim must now be that the Afghan refugees, especially in the neighboring countries of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, can be adequately cared for, said the FDP politician. Development Minister Müller expects massive refugee movements in his own words. “We need a concerted European effort to help refugees in the neighboring countries,” he told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
City Council President Burkhard Jung told the German Press Agency: “Humanitarian aid is now the order of the day.” Germany and the international community should immediately send large amounts of aid to the region. Above all, Afghanistan’s immediate neighbors would have to be given massive support in order to be able to take care of and take in refugees.
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