Until the end of August.

That is how long the airlift of the German Air Force from Kabul is to be maintained.

The date is not chosen arbitrarily.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) announced in a special session of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag that the Americans had announced that they wanted to keep the airport in the Afghan capital under control until August 31.

What happens after that is open.

Peter Carstens

Political correspondent in Berlin

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Johannes Leithäuser

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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According to information from participants in the meeting, the paratroopers of the Bundeswehr have now taken on part of the security tasks there.

The German contingent, which currently has fewer than 100 troops, is supporting the several thousand American soldiers and is, among other things, controlling one of the two access gates to the airport.

It was also said that the German diplomat Markus Potzel should negotiate with the Taliban in the Qatari capital Doha to allow Afghan local staff to be allowed through to the airport.

Flight operations partially interrupted

The Bundeswehr initially flew another 180 people from Kabul on Wednesday and brought them to Tashkent in neighboring Uzbekistan.

From there they reached Frankfurt airport by charter aircraft operated by Lufthansa.

Among them were former local staff from German government and non-governmental organizations.

The flight operations in Kabul were temporarily interrupted, according to the information, because the airport fire brigade was "not available".

But on Wednesday at 2.15 p.m. German time, another A400M aircraft took off from Tashkent to pick up people in Kabul.

According to the Bundeswehr operations command, at least two more should follow him on Wednesday.

The clearance by the authorities in Uzbekistan seemed complicated.

Because according to the Bundeswehr, the air force planes are now initially flying to Karshi Airport in southern Uzbekistan.

"Uzbekistan is carrying out a technical inspection of the aircraft there before the onward flight to Tashkent," it said in a message.

In total, around 500 people were picked up from Kabul by midday on Wednesday.

According to the Federal Foreign Office, 189 Germans, 202 Afghans and 59 citizens of other EU countries were among them.

The cabinet decided on Wednesday the draft mandate for the subsequent legitimation of the use of the Bundeswehr in the evacuation operation. The draft, which is to be passed by the Bundestag in a special session next week, envisages sending up to 600 soldiers to the Hindu Kush. The location is, it is said, "extremely confusing". The security situation in Afghanistan has made "immediate intervention by Bundeswehr forces necessary, also in coordination with international allies and partners."

In essence, it is important to "protect the life and limb of German citizens and those personnel of the international community as well as other designated persons for whom Germany has a special responsibility". The deployment is to be limited to the end of September and can cost up to 40 million euros.