Germany, Merkel: "We are all wrong on Afghanistan"

• Kabul surrenders to the Taliban: "We will proclaim an Islamic Emirate".

  Thousands on the run

• The costs of 20 years of Afghanistan

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August 16, 2021 "A wrong evaluation. Not a German wrong evaluation, but a common wrong evaluation". Angela Merkel said this in Berlin, admitting in turn that it was a mistake to believe that Afghan forces could resist the Taliban. "We failed to achieve what we set out to achieve", Merkel also said, stressing that this is "very bitter" after a mission that lasted for 20 years.

"The Afghan army did not resist, whatever the reason, or at least offered little resistance. On this we gave a wrong assessment, and this was not a German wrong assessment, but widely spread," Merkel explained. Beyond the fight against terrorism, the Chancellor underlined, "everything that has been added has failed and did not have the success we had intended". "This is a bitter development for many Afghans who have actively cooperated," he added. But the development on the ground took a much longer duration than expected, he explained. "We spent 20 years in Afghanistan and in all this time - he concluded - our efforts have not been successful" and for Merkel we must learn the lesson that "the objectives must be smaller ".

"I spoke on the phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, together we are trying to achieve close coordination within the EU" to decide how to react to the escalation of the crisis in Afghanistan he then added and recalled that "Wednesday will be held a Summit of Foreign and Interior Ministers of the European Union ".     

"There is also the possibility", continues the Chancellor, "of an extraordinary meeting of the European Council", to discuss, among other things, the "necessary aid for the countries close to Afghanistan" in the face of the probable flow of refugees.

"We will do everything in our power to take the Afghans who have collaborated with Germany out of the country", the Chancellor then stressed, stating that "out of a total of 2,500 people, including collaborators and family members, 1,900 have already been brought to Germany and we believe some of them are safe outside the country. "" There are more than 1,000 people who have worked in the field of development aid who have all been contacted, as well as about 500 people from NGOs - he added, quoted by Deutsche Welle - we will do everything in our power to get them out of the country. "

The Chancellor then defined mass escapes from Afghanistan as "probable", stressing the need to help neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, in collaboration with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas today admitted that "the German government, the intelligence services, the international community, have all been wrong in assessing the situation" in Afghanistan.