Status: 03/31/2022 02:46 am
After the Taliban took power, Afghanistan is in a catastrophic state. Former local German workers are still waiting to leave the country. What is the federal government doing to alleviate the suffering of the people?
By Kai Küstner, ARD Capital Studio
It remains a difficult balancing act: how the plight of Afghans can be alleviated without funding Taliban extremists. This is the key question that the German government must find answers to every day: since the extremists took power, Germany has approved around €600 million in humanitarian aid.
NDR logo Kai Küstner ARD capital studio
The Foreign Office emphasizes that aid is being provided directly by independent organizations, so it is impossible “for the funds to go to the Taliban regime”.
Dramatic famine in Afghanistan
Despite the funds: Welthungerhilfe warns that the already “dramatic hunger crisis” in Afghanistan will get worse again. 95% of the population could no longer eat properly. In their distress, families were marrying girls off at an early age, and child labor was on the rise.
Just a few days ago, the Taliban caused international outrage because they spontaneously withdrew the original announcement that girls would be allowed to attend secondary schools again.
Aid organization World Vision is convening the donor conference, which is being hosted by Germany, Qatar and Britain, to pay special attention to women and girls, and advises the international community to return frozen bank assets to Afghanistan. This is controversial because it would undermine sanctions against Islamists.
Soon diplomatic mission in Kabul again?
The plight of the people has worsened dramatically since the Taliban seized power following the hasty withdrawal of international troops in August 2021. There are no signs that the extremists are capable of taking countermeasures.
Despite everything, Germany and other countries are trying to maintain contact with the Taliban. The federal government, together with European partners, is trying to reopen a diplomatic representation in Kabul. ARD’s capital studio learned this from government circles.
Local workers are still waiting to leave the country
Talking to the extremists is also obviously necessary because it is still necessary to get Afghans out of the country who need protection. As for former local workers, ie people who helped the Germans as translators for the Bundeswehr, for example, 2,908 of them have entered Germany since the Taliban took power. If you add in the family members, that’s more than 13,190 Afghans, as the Federal Interior Ministry told the capital’s ARD studio.
That’s a lot more than six weeks ago. However, many are still waiting desperately and in mortal danger to leave the country.
Afghanistan on the brink – what is Germany doing?
Kai Küstner, ARD Berlin, 30.3.2022 21:50