Defense Minister Kramp-Karrenbauer ordered that the Bundeswehr transport planes landing in Kabul should take as many Germans and Afghans with them as possible.
Since this airlift cannot last forever, the number of Afghans who escape the Taliban in this way will nonetheless remain manageable.
In the case of the “local staff” who had worked for the Bundeswehr or German civil organizations and who therefore have bad things to fear, there is a consensus in Germany: We have to take them on.
All other Afghans cannot expect that the limitless “welcoming culture” from autumn 2015 will be resurrected.
No party wants to burn its fingers on this hot iron a few weeks before the federal election.
Not even the Greens are demanding that doors and gates be fully opened.
This would alienate those voters from the political center that they needed to get over the 20 percent threshold.
The mistakes made in 2015 are not intended to be repeated
For the Union’s candidate for chancellor, the subject is a minefield in which every misstep can lead to politically fatal mutilation. Laschet has not been forgotten that he supported Merkel's course. But he too wants to have learned from the mistakes made at the time. Like Laschet, many Union politicians are now pleading for refugees from Afghanistan to be received in neighboring countries as early as possible. These are to be financially supported for this. This is undoubtedly a better idea than letting the refugees come to Germany, which is already overwhelmed with the integration of the refugees living here - as well as with the deportation of those who have no right to stay.
But will countries like Pakistan and Iran approve of the German plan? Refugees are not only used as leverage by the Belarusian dictator. The new federal government will also face difficult decisions when it comes to migration policy. And then she will certainly not be able to say that it will come much earlier than expected.