With his travel route, Antony Blinken followed that of thousands of evacuees from Afghanistan: first Qatar, then Ramstein.
The American Secretary of State combined the visits with words of thanks for the allies - even if, as in the case of Germany, and especially in the case of Heiko Maas, they got into great difficulties due to the rapid withdrawal of the Americans from Afghanistan.
During a meeting with the German Foreign Minister at the American air force base in Ramstein, Blinken spoke of a “remarkable partnership” with Germany in the evacuation of the Afghans.
Maas, on the other hand, welcomed "Tony" to the "most American part of Germany" and spoke of the "good and close cooperation that we have had in recent weeks with a view to Afghanistan".
Johannes Leithäuser
Political correspondent in Berlin.
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Julian Staib
Political correspondent for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland based in Wiesbaden.
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Ramstein is one of the American armed forces' hubs for evacuating people from Afghanistan.
According to the American authorities, around 34,400 people have arrived here since the end of August.
More than 23,000 were flown on, most of them to America.
On Wednesday, thousands were still housed in parking lots and hangars in large beige tents on the huge area of the American armed forces.
Some of the evacuees used the stopover to apply for asylum in Germany. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, there have been around 90 people so far. In Ramstein on Wednesday the American side even spoke of around 120 people. Most have family ties to Afghans living in Germany, it said. Since the American base is on German territory, each of these applications will be examined, said the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The Americans are amazed at the topic. Because actually all evacuees have to be flown on within ten days. On Wednesday it was initially unclear whether this had already happened to some of the asylum seekers.
The Foreign Office assured in Berlin on Wednesday that the United States was sticking to the agreements they had made when they asked the federal government weeks ago whether Ramstein could serve as a hub for return flights from Afghanistan. It was agreed that the Afghans who flew to Ramstein would stay on German soil for a maximum of ten days, that they would not be allowed to leave the American base during this time and that they would continue to travel to the United States or third countries after their transit stay. The Ministry of Defense confirmed that the German Air Force had brought 39 Afghans from Ramstein to Kosovo with a Transall transport machine as part of a NATO transport aid program. In Ramstein it was saidchecking the people took longer than ten days, so the people had to be flown out for another stopover.
Most of those evacuated to Ramstein came through Qatar. Before he traveled to Ramstein, Blinken had thanked those in power there for their cooperation and said that the United States was in contact with the Taliban in order to evacuate more people even after they came to power. The Taliban have promised to let all those who have travel documents leave Afghanistan. "The international community is watching this closely to see if the Taliban keep their promises." Maas said on Wednesday that the evacuation activities were "not yet over". Last week he also traveled to Qatar to advertise there, as in several neighboring countries of Afghanistan, for the admission of people whom the Federal Republic now wants to bring out of the country in large numbers. There is talk of more than 50,000 people.After the end of the airlift, they should now leave in smaller contingents. However, it is unclear how this is to be achieved; the borders with the neighboring countries are officially closed and during the airlift to Kabul the Bundeswehr only succeeded in flying out just under 5000 people.
From Ramstein, Blinken and Maas spoke on Wednesday with foreign ministers from around 20 countries, including neighboring countries of Afghanistan, about the crisis state. It is important to clarify “how we can deal with the Taliban together,” said Maas before the meeting. And: They are ready to provide humanitarian aid through the United Nations and continue to talk to the Taliban just to enable people to leave the country. Whether one gets involved beyond that depends “on the behavior of the Taliban”. The proclamation of a transitional government without the participation of other groups and the violence against demonstrators in Kabul were "not optimistic," said Maas. Nevertheless, representatives of the Union and FDP have spoken out in Berlin in favor of negotiations with the new rulers.Deputy Union parliamentary group leader Thorsten Frei told the Funke Group newspapers that it would not be possible to get more German local workers to leave without the Taliban. Also the defense policy spokeswoman for the FDP. Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, pleaded for talks.