Germany will take in more Afghans than planned who helped the Bundeswehr deploy in the country. All so-called local staff who have worked for the Bundeswehr and other German security organs in Afghanistan since 2013 are now eligible, as Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) confirmed on Friday. Initially, it was planned that only those vulnerable Afghans who had worked as interpreters for the German Armed Forces within the past two years would be qualified for relocation to Germany. "The two-year period has fallen," said Seehofer after the deliberations of the federal and state interior ministers on Friday in Rust, Baden-Württemberg.
Seehofer justified this step with new insights into the security situation in Afghanistan. Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) demanded that the federal government should at least cover the flight costs of local workers at risk to Germany, as many people could not afford the ticket. Seehofer said: "I cannot take them over in my household." He referred this question to Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD). “Spiegel” was the first to report on the decision to expand the number of those entitled. According to this, around 400 local helpers and their core families have so far received an entry permit for Germany.
With their help for the foreign troops, the local forces have allied themselves with the enemy from the perspective of the radical Islamist Taliban. Several human rights organizations have therefore asked NATO allies in Afghanistan to take on local staff immediately. It is clear that they could otherwise be targeted by the Taliban and killed. The foreign troops should be withdrawn by September 11th at the latest. With the Bundeswehr, the withdrawal is in full swing.