“Not a cent more”: Maas wants to cut aid to Afghanistan when the Taliban takes over

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Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD)

Photo: Joerg Carstensen / photothek.de / imago images / photothek

After the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan, the radical Islamic Taliban rolled over the country.

At the same time, Germany is helping with peace talks between the Islamists and the Afghan government.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) is now threatening to cut aid funds if the Taliban take over the government in Kabul.

"We will not give a cent more to Afghanistan if the Taliban take over this country completely, introduce Sharia law and this country becomes a caliphate," Maas said in the ARD and ZDF "Morgenmagazin" magazine.

However, he was optimistic that the Taliban would go along with talks.

"This country is not viable without international help," said Maas.

The Taliban knew that. Germany is currently supporting Afghanistan with 430 million euros annually.

In the past few days the Taliban had taken Kunduz and Faisabad, among other places, where former Bundeswehr bases were located, and are now besieging Mazar-i-Sharif, where the Bundeswehr had its largest field camp.

If Mazar-i-Sharif were taken, the government in Kabul would lose control of the north of the country for good.

Rapid land gains by the Taliban

On Thursday, the Islamists also captured the Afghan provincial capital Ghazni just 150 kilometers from the gates of Kabul. "The Taliban have taken control of the most important areas of the city," said the chairman of the provincial council, Nassir Ahmed Fakiri, the AFP news agency. Ghasni is already the tenth provincial capital to fall to the Islamists within a week.

In view of the rapid conquest of the Islamist Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, Germany urgently urged its citizens to leave the crisis country quickly.

Against the background of the significantly deteriorated security situation in the entire national territory, including the capital Kabul, the embassy urgently advises all German nationals to leave the country as soon as possible by scheduled flight, according to a message sent by the Federal Foreign Office.

Visa facilitation for Afghan local staff

At the same time, there will be a ban on deportation to Afghanistan until the end of the month. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) announced the move on Wednesday. "A constitutional state is also responsible for ensuring that deportations do not pose a threat to those involved," said Seehofer. "The security situation on site is currently changing so rapidly that we can neither meet this responsibility for the returnees, nor for the escorts and the aircraft crew."

Maas welcomed the ban on deportation and announced that it would also facilitate entry for Afghan refugees who had previously supported the Bundeswehr as local personnel.

Until now, they had to apply for visas to enter Germany in Afghanistan.

Now the local staff will be issued visas even after a charter flight to Germany.

Visas have already been issued for 2,500 people, according to Maas.

It is about local workers and their family members.

mrc / dpa / AFP