The German President said on Tuesday (August 17) that the crowds trying to flee Kabul are shameful to Western countries because desperate people shouted at the airport after the Taliban took over.
After the collapse of the Western-backed Kabul government and the collapse of its foreign-trained security forces, President Frank-Waltersteinmeier said: “We are experiencing a human tragedy, and we share the responsibility for this.”
Germany has the second largest military contingent in Afghanistan after the United States. It hopes to airlift thousands of German and Afghan dual nationals, as well as human rights defenders, lawyers, and personnel cooperating with foreign troops.
“The desperate images of Kabul Airport have humiliated Western politics,” Steinmeier said in a statement at the German Presidential Palace, his position was mainly ceremonial.
“Now we need to support those who we are grateful for their work and support.”
Since the Taliban came to power, the first German military plane landed in Kabul, and only 7 people were evacuated due to the chaos at the airport after the arrival of soldiers on Monday.
But the second plane took off from Kabul Airport early on Tuesday afternoon with more than 120 people on board, including Germans, Afghans and people from other countries, Foreign Minister Heikomas wrote on Twitter.
More evacuations followed, and Germany deployed 600 soldiers to this end.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that if Afghans fleeing to neighboring countries do not receive sufficient humanitarian assistance, they may head to Europe like the immigration crisis in 2015.
She hopes that the refugees will be guaranteed safety in neighboring countries of Afghanistan, and then the EU will consider whether it can accept people.
“It is not easy to reach a common position within the EU. Our failure to develop a common asylum policy is a weakness of the EU,” she said at a press conference.
Six years ago, Germany opened its borders to more than 1 million immigrants fleeing war and poverty, many of them Syrians: this has won Merkel’s praise abroad, but it has eroded her political capital at home.
She plans to step down after the federal election on September 26.
Armin Laschet, chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who campaigned to succeed her as prime minister, called for future military intervention abroad to set clear goals, timetables and exit strategies.
He said in Rostock in northern Germany: “The lesson of the past 20 years is that the goal of regime change, which is to end dictatorship through military intervention in order to establish democracy, has almost universally failed.”
