Following the Taliban's recent military successes in Afghanistan, the German government is facing a reassessment of the situation in the Hindu Kush.

The Foreign Office announced in Berlin that there would be an ad hoc update of the current situation report, which, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, will then also become the basis for decisions about further deportations to Afghanistan.

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) turned against demands to stop the advance of the Taliban by military means.

She said that who “now demands a new intervention in Afghanistan by the Bundeswehr, has to be asked: with what goal, with what strategy, with which partners?

With the willingness to put the lives of many of our soldiers at risk? "

Johannes Leithäuser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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Kramp-Karrenbauer admitted that the reports of the capture of the city of Kunduz and of further conquests by the Taliban "are bitter and very painful".

Despite the international effort, however, the Taliban had gradually expanded their influence in Afghanistan for years.

She blamed former American President Donald Trump for ensuring that radical Islamists continued to gain influence.

His “unfortunate agreement” with the Taliban was “the beginning of the end”.

"No political majority for a new mission"

Kramp-Karrenbauer prophesied that the Taliban would have advanced “with full force” even if the international troops had not left the country. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense also pointed out that it was “not recognizable” that there would be “a political majority in Germany” for a new deployment of the Bundeswehr in the Hindu Kush. Therefore it cannot be assumed "that one month after the withdrawal of the German forces we should think about going back into a combat mission there". The deputy chairman of the Union parliamentary group, Johann Wadephul, also said that he saw no way of ending the advance of the Taliban militarily: “The Bundeswehr mission was ended at NATO level.” There was “neither a political nor a military starting point” for a new mission .

There were contradicting reports on the current military situation on Monday. While the Afghan army and eyewitnesses in Kunduz reported efforts to counterattack the city from the hands of the Taliban, new Taliban attacks were reported from other parts of Afghanistan. There were reports of explosions and uninterrupted exchanges of fire from Kunduz; many families are on the run. There have also been reports of fierce fighting from the outskirts of the city of Herat in western Afghanistan. Government agencies reported that the Taliban had captured the provincial capital of Aibak in northern Afghanistan; the Taliban themselves said they were also entering the city of Mazar-i-Sharif.On the outskirts of this largest city in northern Afghanistan, the Bundeswehr maintained the headquarters of its forces for many years.

The Foreign Office called on the Taliban leadership on Monday to agree to a ceasefire. A "militarily forced shift in the balance of power" was "unacceptable," said the spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office, Maria Adebahr. The German Foreign Ministry is urging "with all diplomatic means" that the Taliban should end their military advance. German diplomats play a moderating role in the negotiations that are being conducted in Doha, Qatar, between representatives of the Taliban and the Afghan government. Adebahr said that the weekend's conquests “will not result in us changing our attitudes overnight and recognizing shifts in power through military force”.

The foreign policy spokesman for the FDP in the Bundestag, Bijan Djir-Sarai, on the other hand, assessed the current developments in Afghanistan as evidence that “negotiations and dialogue with the Taliban are an illusion”.

The Islamists are only interested in "sole power over the country and its people";

their means of choice are "terror and violence".

Djir-Sarai demanded "the federal government should end the nonsensical negotiations with the Taliban and instead increase pressure on Pakistan to stop supporting the group".

 Deportations are to be reassessed

The Federal Ministry of the Interior stated on Monday that the question of future deportations to Afghanistan would be reassessed on the basis of the updated situation report from the Foreign Office. In response to allegations that many of the Afghan local staff who worked as interpreters and helpers in the service of the Bundeswehr or other German agencies in Afghanistan were not given the opportunity to leave the country, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior said that a total of around 1,700 local staff and their family members had entered Germany so far. Delays also result from the fact that those concerned would first have to request passports from the Afghan authorities in order to be able to leave the country. In cases in which they cannot procure flight tickets to Germany themselves, support is sought.An office has been working in Kabul since the beginning of August, which looks after the local staff who see themselves as being at risk in the country.