After the Bundeswehr's largest and most dangerous rescue operation in Afghanistan, the paratroopers of the airborne brigade and several hundred other soldiers returned to Germany from Kabul. The A400M military transporter and another aircraft took off from Tashkent in Uzbekistan on Friday afternoon. The men and women of the contingent landed in Wunstorf, Lower Saxony, in the early evening. As part of an international airlift in Kabul, the soldiers escorted several thousand people in need of protection to the airport and flown them out. Embassy staff and federal police officers who were also flown from Afghanistan were also involved in the mission on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office.According to the German government, there is still a medical evacuation aircraft (MedEvac) of the Air Force in neighboring Uzbekistan, which can be used as a rescue aircraft to transport the seriously injured. In Kabul, where the American-led evacuation operation can continue until August 31 at the latest, there is still an extremely high risk of terrorism.
Peter Carstens
Political correspondent in Berlin
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Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) and General Inspector Eberhard Zorn flew to Uzbekistan on Thursday evening immediately after the end of the risky mission to thank the soldiers.
These had "brought as many people as possible to safety under the most difficult conditions on site," said the Ministry of Defense.
The whole drama of the situation culminated in a terrorist attack at Kabul airport on Thursday evening, in which numerous people were killed or injured.
According to American information on Friday, 13 US soldiers who tried to save people at an airport entrance were among the dead.
Shortly before that, German soldiers had also been there.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his condolences to American President Joe Biden in a letter of condolence on Friday.
Left politicians condemned the attacks and at the same time called on the American government to end the "war on terror".
In addition, foreign policy spokeswoman Sevim Dagdelen called for arms exports to be banned immediately.
She and six other members of the Left parliamentary group voted against the rescue mission of the Bundeswehr, most of the parliamentary group abstained.
More than 100,000 people saved
In total, the United States and its allies have flown more than 100,000 people out of Afghanistan since August 14. The German soldiers and their commander Jens Arlt, like the units of other nations, should have withdrawn as planned on Thursday evening. Under American direction, the airfield should be evacuated step by step by Tuesday next week. While the last German transport plane was being loaded, an explosive device from a suicide bomber exploded at the Abbey Gate. Brigadier Arlt then ordered the emergency withdrawal. Two paramedics from the Bundeswehr initially stayed behind: They were with the Americans at the time of the explosion and were taken into their shelters. A little later they were picked up by an Air Force plane.In the evening all soldiers of the German contingent landed safely in Tashkent.