Enlarge image
Service for the Bundeswehr: Hundreds of Afghans worked as local staff for the troops (German soldier with an Afghan interpreter in 2012)
Photo: REUTERS
The protection program for endangered Afghan Bundeswehr helpers has started.
According to SPIEGEL information, six so-called local employees who worked for the troops in Afghanistan have already arrived in Germany with their wives and children since the end of June.
From the armed forces it was said that a total of 23 Afghans had already left Mazar-i-Sharif with Turkish Airlines scheduled flights.
In the coming days, around 30 more people are expected to be at risk.
Shortly before their departure, the Bundeswehr quickly organized exit papers for a total of 471 Afghan aid workers.
As so-called local staff, you had worked as an interpreter for the troops for the past two years, for example.
Most of those affected have been threatened by the Taliban for a long time.
Afghans are also allowed to take their wives and minor children with them to Germany.
According to the troops, an additional 2380 visas were issued for these relatives.
In addition to the troops' helpers, the federal government also wants to protect those Afghans who worked for the German police project in Afghanistan.
The dozen or so interpreters who most recently supported the German Police Project Team have already confirmed their departure, but are still waiting for the visa to be issued.
There was a lot of controversy within the federal government about the protection program.
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) advocated the generous acceptance of former Bundeswehr helpers, as they were threatened with the revenge of the Taliban after the Germans withdrew.
Development Minister Gerd Müller fears a suction effect
Meanwhile, resistance came from the interior and development departments.
Development Minister Gerd Müller even fears a dangerous suction effect if the hurdles for emigration to Germany are made too soft.
In the end, Kramp-Karrenbauer was at least able to get the protection program expanded.
Former Afghan local staff who have been working for the troops since 2013 are now also to be allowed to submit reports of danger.
According to internal calculations by the Bundeswehr, this affects around 350 people.
Together with their core families, this would be around 2000 persons entitled to leave the country.
Another hundred ex-employees who had worked for the Federal Police Mission since 2013 should also be able to apply to leave Germany.
Despite the new offer, the criticism of the process continues.
Because how the earlier helpers can strive for protection is completely unclear.
One of the candidates, the former interpreter Ahmad Jawid Sultani from Mazar-i-Sharif, said at the end of last week that he had only learned from the media that he could try again to leave the country.
After the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr, however, he does not know where to report at all.
If you believe the Ministry of the Interior, such an application is easy.
In a report for the Bundestag, the department said that it would "ensure that local workers affected can continue to present their concerns in a secure environment in Afghanistan".
Even the journey to the embassy in Kabul is life-threatening
How this is to be possible in a civil war country like Afghanistan, none of the ministries concerned can currently say exactly.
The journey from northern Afghanistan to the capital Kabul alone is currently life-threatening.
The German embassy there has also been closed to visitors for months, you only work with an emergency staff.
A contact point of the UN organization "IOM" for local staff, which has been announced again and again, has not yet opened.
In Berlin, the departments involved said that they still had technical problems, so they couldn't give an exact date for the opening of the office.
"Incredibly ungrateful and deeply shameful"
The handling of helpers from the Bundeswehr who were under contract with service providers and not directly with the troops is also controversial.
The Afghans often worked in the German camp on a daily basis, but they cannot apply for the protection program.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, "the employer is primarily responsible for them" - and not the federal government.
Because of the strict criteria, the government is already receiving severe criticism.
The vice-leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, Agnieszka Brugger, called the dealings with the local staff "incredibly ungrateful and deeply shameful."
In the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" she accused the federal government of carelessly risking the lives of the Afghans, without whom the Bundeswehr mission in Afghanistan would not have been possible.