Many people desperately want to get out of Afghanistan.
People died in the crowd.
The evacuations continue under difficult conditions.
In the crowd around the airport in Kabul, at least 20 people have died within the past seven days
(see update from August 22, 2:50 p.m.).
An Afghan woman has a baby on board a US plane
(see update from August 22, 2:50 p.m.).
According to the US government, the danger of an IS attack at Kabul airport is "acute"
(see update from August 22nd, 3:52 pm).
This news ticker on the situation in Afghanistan * is continuously updated.
Update from August 22, 3:52 p.m.:
The US government has confirmed media reports about the risk of an attack by the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia at Kabul Airport or in the vicinity.
"The threat is real, it is acute, it is ongoing," said US President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, on CNN on Sunday.
“We work intensively with our secret services to find out where an attack could come from.” Take the warnings “absolutely dead serious”.
The Taliban and the regionally active branch of IS are enemies and have fought against each other in the past.
Johnson invites you to G7 meetings over Afghanistan on Tuesday
Update from August 22, 3 p.m .:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson invites you to a virtual G7 meeting about the situation in Afghanistan: "I will convene the G7 heads of state and government on Tuesday for urgent talks about the situation in Afghanistan", he wrote on Twitter.
"It is vital that the international community work together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and help the Afghan people secure the gains of the past 20 years."
Afghanistan: In the past seven days, at least 20 people have died in the crowd around the airport
Update from August 22, 2:50 p.m.:
In Kabul, at least 20 people have died in the crowd around the airport in the past seven days. This figure was given by a NATO representative from the Reuters news agency. "Our focus is evacuating all foreigners as quickly as possible," he said.
In addition to all the sad fates, things turned out well for a newborn baby and its mother in the end: An Afghan woman gave birth to a baby on board a US evacuation plane.
Her contractions and additional health complaints started on the way to the US base Ramstein in Germany, as the US Air Force transport command announced on Sunday.
Her condition improved after the C-17 transport plane flew lower and the air pressure in the plane increased as a result.
The maneuver helped save her life.
After landing in Ramstein, Palatinate, the woman gave birth to a girl in the hold of the machine with the help of soldiers.
Mother and child are doing well.
Bundeswehr flies another 196 people from Afghanistan
Update from August 22, 1:50 p.m.:
The Bundeswehr has flown another 196 people from Afghanistan.
An A400M transport machine started on Sunday at 11:19 a.m. (CEST) from the airport of the capital Kabul in the direction of Uzbekistan, the operational command said on Twitter.
“The situation there is still very difficult.
Everything is being done to fly out as many people in need of protection as possible per flight to Tashkent. "
Afghanistan: GIZ pays local workers who are willing to stay an annual salary - the Greens find the approach "bitter"
The German development aid agency GIZ is now paying Afghan local workers who do not want to leave the country an annual salary in advance.
The Ministry of Development confirmed
a corresponding
Spiegel
report on Sunday. But it also made it clear that the Afghan employees should not be pressured to stay. For legal reasons, they would have to give an assurance in return that they would not be included in the program for the repatriation of local workers. "Should the local staff change their minds, especially if the risk situation changes, then they can still be put on the exit list," said a ministry spokesman for the German press agency.
Around 1,100 Afghan employees worked for the Society for Development and Cooperation (GIZ) until the Taliban came to power. Shortly after the coup a week ago, the federal government completely suspended development aid. The Afghan employees can now decide whether they want to go on one of the evacuation flights from Kabul airport or not. Those who stay get their annual salary even though they are in fact no longer employed. All Afghan local staff would be "unbureaucratically supported - financially and non-financially," said the ministry.
However, there was sharp criticism of this procedure.
The FDP defense politicians Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann called it “repulsive” on Twitter and asked GIZ: “What’s going wrong with you?” Britta Haßelmann, the management of the Greens, called the procedure “bitter”.
“Another low point in the actions of the federal government,” she wrote on Twitter.
+
A Taliban fighter stands at a checkpoint in the Wazir Akbar Khan district in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.
© Rahmat Gul / dp
The Taliban blame the United States for the chaotic scenes in Kabul
Update from August 22nd, 11.55 a.m.:
The militant Islamist Taliban blamed the US armed forces for the chaotic scenes at Kabul airport.
"America, with all its power and its possibilities," said high-ranking Taliban official Amir Chan Mutaki on Sunday, did not manage to "create order at the airport."
"There is peace and quiet throughout the country, with chaos only at Kabul airport," he added.
According to the British Ministry of Defense, seven Afghans were killed on Sunday in the crowd in front of the airport in the Afghan capital
(see first report)
.
"Everyone in the city is now complaining": In Afghanistan, the cash is running out
In Afghanistan, however, after the Taliban came to power, people are increasingly running out of cash. Kabul residents reported to the German Press Agency that the city's ATMs were practically empty. Banks and the money exchange market have been closed for a week. "Everyone in town is now complaining that they can't withdraw money," said one resident. One man told local TV station ToloNews that his bank had also put a cap on withdrawals. If an ATM is still full, you can only withdraw 10,000 Afghani (around 100 euros). Many express concern that, in view of the current crisis, they will no longer be able to get their money at all.
On Sunday night, the Treasury's Facebook page said that the central bank, private banks and other financial institutions would soon be up and running again.
At the same time, the Ministry's “technical staff” were asked to return to work.
Other ministry officials should await a decision from the Taliban's finance commission.
It was also said that from the start of the “new Islamic government” all civilian state employees would be paid as they were before.
Several children missing at Kabul airport - family takes care of boy whom they found stuck in barbed wire
Update from August 22, 10:27 a.m.:
According to reports from local media, several children were lost in the crowd of thousands of people at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan. According to a report by the television station Ariana News, a family from the capital has been looking after a child of primary school age who had found it stuck in barbed wire at the airport for a week. To this day, despite many efforts, the parents cannot be found, said the family.
The six-year-old boy said he drove to the airport with his parents to leave the country.
His father went ahead, but then he fell himself.
Shortly afterwards, he could no longer see both parents.
Local journalists also reported on social media that people were posting photos of missing children at the airport.
+
Afghan people gathered along a street on Friday as they wait to board a U.S. military plane.
© Wakil Kohsar / AFP
Kabul: People die in the crowd
First report from August 22nd:
Kabul - In Kabul, seven people were killed in the crowd around the airport, according to the British government.
"Our thoughts are with the families of seven Afghan civilians who tragically died in the crowd in Kabul," said a statement from the Defense Ministry on Sunday.
A correspondent for the British broadcaster Sky News had previously reported on chaotic scenes outside the gates of the airport, in which people were "squeezed" on Saturday.
Many were dehydrated and desperate.
According to his report, paramedics could no longer detect any signs of life in several people, whereupon they were wrapped in white towels.
Afghanistan: Chaotic conditions at the airport in Kabul
Since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, numerous Afghans and foreign citizens * have tried every day to gain access to the capital's airport in order to escape the country on one of the evacuation flights.
The German and American embassies in Kabul advised their citizens against attempts to reach the airport on Saturday.
The Bundeswehr announced late on Saturday evening that it had meanwhile flown more than 2,130 people from Kabul.
According to the Pentagon, the US armed forces have brought 17,000 people to safety over the airlift since the beginning of their mission on Saturday last week.
"The situation is difficult": Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to continue the evacuation under high pressure
Defense Minister * Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU *) assured that the Bundeswehr will continue the evacuation under high pressure. "The situation is difficult, but we will continue to work with the possibilities and everything that arises on site to get as many out as possible," she said on Saturday in Berlin. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in Washington: “We know that we are fighting against both time and space. This is the race we're in right now. "
The time window for further evacuations from Kabul is getting smaller and smaller.
The US actually wants to complete the withdrawal of its troops by August 31st.
A continuation of the evacuation operation without the USA is excluded.
The Bundeswehr moved two helicopters to Kabul in order to have more options for evacuations.
The agile helicopters arrived in Kabul on Saturday and are ready for use, according to the Defense Ministry.
Demonstrations in Germany because of the situation in Afghanistan
With a demonstration in Berlin's government district this Sunday, activists want to emphasize their demand for a quick and unbureaucratic evacuation of threatened people from Afghanistan.
According to the police, 1000 participants were registered for a rally at 1 p.m. at the Chancellery.
The organizers are expecting several thousand people, said a spokesman for the "Seebrücke" initiative.
In several German cities, people demonstrated on Saturday for safe escape routes from Afghanistan - according to the police, several hundred people took to the streets in Hanover, Göttingen and Frankfurt am Main.
(dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
List of rubric lists: © Rahmat Gul / dp