Benjamin and Lisa Taubmann work for an aid organization in Afghanistan.
You were in the capital Kabul when the Taliban conquered it.
They were flown out by the Bundeswehr.
Sulzbach-Rosenberg - A huge stone fell from his heart, says Georg Taubmann (65) from the Upper Palatinate town of Sulzbach-Rosenberg.
He and his wife Marianne (67) received the redeeming photo on WhatsApp from their son Benjamin (34) and daughter-in-law Lisa (30) on Tuesday afternoon: The young couple is sitting in the hold of an Airbus A400M of the Federal Air Force - they are leaving the Afghan capital flown out!
The Bundeswehr had flown more than 400 people out of Kabul by yesterday evening - the rescue operation is finally picking up speed.
The couple from Bavaria work for the Shelter Now aid organization
Benjamin and Lisa Taubmann are employees of the aid organization Shelter Now, founded in 1983 by his father Georg Taubmann, which provides development aid and humanitarian support in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan.
Taubmann senior was held hostage by the Taliban in 2001.
The young Taubmanns had been in Kabul since April and organized the Shelter Now aid projects there - the reconstruction of destroyed villages, the construction of schools and water pipes, etc. in the provinces.
The seizure of power in Afghanistan by the Taliban came for the Deaf's not entirely surprising: "We were in crisis mode for weeks," said Georg Taubmann to
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. The fact that Kabul was falling so quickly surprised the helpers. “Our son and his wife lived in one of the houses that we rented in Kabul.” In addition to the locals, seven other non-Afghans from Germany, the USA and Uruguay were on site for Shelter Now. When Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban, there was great unrest: “Our local employees were able to go into hiding with their families. Impossible for foreigners. "
Finally, on Sunday, a group of 30 Taliban appeared in the street where Benjamin and Lisa Taubmann live - with Kalashnikovs at the ready, as Georg Taubmann reports.
Further: “Our team had a Pashtun as gatekeeper who spoke the same language as the Taliban fighters.
He explained to the gunmen that everything was fine.
They moved on and ransacked the houses of the other foreigners in the neighborhood who had already fled. "
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The cleared tarmac at the airport in Kabul.
© Shelter Now Germany eV
The young deaf men and their friends were finally notified by cell phone on Tuesday morning that they were being flown out.
“They drove through the city in old, inconspicuous cars, which was full of Taliban checkpoints,” said Georg Taubmann.
They were let through by US soldiers at a secret gate and soon the Shelter Now helpers were already on the plane.
They were let through by US soldiers at a secret gate and soon the Shelter Now helpers were already on the plane.
The Bundeswehr machines flew the evacuees to Tashkent in neighboring Uzbekistan.
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The Bundeswehr Airbus lands in Tashkent / Uzbekistan
© Marc Tessensohn / Bundeswehr / dpa
Benjamin Taubmann's parents could not say where their son and his wife were yesterday because their son was unable to report a SIM card in his cell phone that did not work outside of Afghanistan.
They suspected in Doha, the capital of Qatar in the Persian Gulf.
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