Afghanistan: ex-Bundeswehr captain settles accounts with government - "failure of political leadership"

"The political leadership has forgotten how to act," a former Bundeswehr captain told the federal government.

The criticism is getting louder.

Munich / Kabul - Germany and other countries have been trying to fly people out of Afghanistan for days, but the situation at the airport in the capital Kabul is confusing.

This is also due to mistakes made by the federal government, says a former soldier.

Afghanistan: Ex-Bundeswehr soldier criticizes government - "Evacuation is ad hoc and chaotic"

In the past few days, more and more accusations have been raised that the federal government and the West in general have misjudged the situation in Afghanistan. It was said that one would never have suspected that the radical Islamists of the Taliban would recapture the South Asian country within a few days. After the troops withdrew from Afghanistan, the militant Islamist Taliban seized power in the country.

According to Oliver Schneider, a former captain of the Bundeswehr special unit Command Special Forces (KSK), the federal government is giving an extremely bad picture these days.

It culminates in the current attempts to fly people out of Kabul.

The evacuation is "ad hoc and chaotic," writes Schneider in a guest post for

Focus Online

.

"Without pre-command, without vehicles, without helicopters, without heavy weapons."

Afghanistan: "I have no words about the failure of the political leadership"

Politicians reacted far too late and did not take warnings seriously. “If I hope that things will go well somehow differently, then I am guilty of the failure to provide assistance. If I then claim that the situation came as a surprise and no one could have suspected it, then I am lying. Because the situation was clear, ”says Schneider.

The Bundeswehr should have been deployed much earlier in order to save the local staff in good time.

"Now the ball was in the hands of the political leadership and they ducked away again and preferred to succumb to the 'dogma of the civilian' before activating the evil paratroopers and commandos." The former officer "has no words about the failure of the political leadership . ”Schneider's conclusion:“ It is once again evident that the political leadership has forgotten how to think ahead and act. ”A non-decision is also a decision.

"Only this time it is costing human lives, unnecessarily endangering our own personnel and further eroding trust in the state."

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Bundeswehr soldiers of the elite special forces command (KSK) during a training mission.

Oliver Schneider was once a captain of the KSK.

Now he is making serious allegations towards the federal government.

(Symbol image)

© Kay Nietfeld / dpa

Afghanistan: people are flown to Germany - the process of coming to terms with the situation begins

To press ahead with the evacuation, the federal government is in talks with the Taliban through Ambassador Markus Potzel.

Early Thursday morning, more planes landed in Frankfurt with a total of around 500 people who had previously been brought to safety from Afghanistan.

Another 200 people were flown from Kabul to neighboring Uzbekistan by the German Armed Forces.

On Thursday, the Interior Committee and the Parliamentary Control Committee met for special sessions in the German Bundestag.

There is a charge that the German government underestimated the advance of the Taliban.

That is why a parliamentary committee of inquiry is also being discussed.

According to information from the German Press Agency, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) will make a government declaration on Afghanistan in the Bundestag on August 25.

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List of rubric lists: © Kay Nietfeld