Enlarge image
Bundestag
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / dpa
A large majority in the Bundestag approved the Bundeswehr mandate to evacuate Afghanistan.
The Union, SPD, FDP and Greens all voted "Yes".
The parliamentary groups of the Left and the AfD did not vote as one.
There were both yes and no votes and abstentions in both parties.
In addition to the members of the Union, SPD, FDP and Greens, the five left-wing politicians Helin Evrim Sommer, Kersten Steinke, Thomas Nord, Matthias Höhn and Klaus Ernst voted for the mission.
There were 26 yes votes from the AfD parliamentary group.
A total of nine members of the Bundestag voted against the Bundeswehr mandate: Left-wing politicians Sevim Dagdelen, Zeki Gökhan, Heike Hänsel, Andrej Hunko, Ulla Jelpke, Zaklin Nastic, Andreas Wagner, AfD member Thomas Seitz and non-attached member Frank Pasemann (formerly AfD).
A total of 89 MPs abstained from the vote, 43 of them from the Left and 45 from the AfD.
The 90 abstentions and 539 yes votes initially indicated by the Bundestag were corrected accordingly in the late afternoon.
So on the left there were a total of twelve dissenters.
The group had previously actually decided to abstain - among other things, because it is a so-called robust mandate that also allows the use of military force.
However, a first deviator had already spoken out before the vote and publicly announced his approval.
The Greens and the SPD criticize the left's abstention
Representatives of the SPD and the Greens criticized the left for the majority abstention from the vote.
The Green politician Cem Özdemir challenged the left's ability to govern in the face of the “world”.
"She couldn't behave like that in a government," said Özdemir.
"With its erratic voting behavior, the left is obstructing its ability to act in foreign policy and running away from responsibility."
Özdemir emphasized that the Bundeswehr's deployment in the international evacuation mission at Kabul airport was aimed at rescuing people.
"It is incomprehensible to me that the parliamentary group on the left in the Bundestag wants to abstain from voting on a rescue mission in which life and death will be decided," he said.
The SPD expressed itself similarly.
"It is extremely disappointing that the left on the one hand demands protection of people threatened by the Taliban in Afghanistan and then refuses to receive help," said the SPD external expert Nils Schmid of "Welt".
as / AFP / dpa