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Maneuvering area in Wunstorf before the arrival of the Bundeswehr aircraft
Photo: Daniel Reinhardt / dpa
After the evacuation mission in the Afghan capital Kabul, the German soldiers returned to Germany.
They landed in three Bundeswehr aircraft on Friday evening from the Uzbek capital Tashkent at the Wunstorf air base in Lower Saxony.
Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) had already received her in Tashkent and accompanied her on the way back.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanked the returnees: "Our country is proud of you," Steinmeier wrote on the social networks Facebook and Instagram. “Thank you for your courageous commitment in a very dangerous mission - how dangerous was shown not least by the brutal attack at Kabul airport. Together with our allies you have brought thousands of people from Afghanistan to safety. "
The emergency services had started in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, where Kramp-Karrenbauer had received them. The Bundeswehr had set up a hub there to fly Germans and threatened Afghans from Kabul in short shuttle flights. An Air Force Airbus A310 and two A400M military transporters were used for the soldiers' return flight to Germany. According to the Bundeswehr, 454 emergency services were involved in the evacuation mission, including 19 women soldiers.
Under the leadership of Brigadier General Jens Arlt, the members of the Bundeswehr took part in the largest military evacuation mission in the Federal Republic to date. The flying intensive care unit of the Bundeswehr - the so-called Medevac aircraft - initially stayed in Tashkent on Kramp-Karrenbauer's orders. There it should "support our American allies if necessary," said a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Defense. In a devastating attack with more than 80 dead at Kabul airport the day before, 13 US soldiers were killed and 18 others were injured.
Federal Foreign Minister Maas wants to start a trip to the neighboring countries of Afghanistan on Sunday to find quick exit options for people at risk from the crisis state. According to a spokesman, Maas wants to ensure that Afghans with an entry permit for Germany are allowed to come to neighboring countries by land in order to be flown out from there. Maas also wants to advise on how civil aviation for people leaving Kabul Airport could be resumed.
The Foreign Office spokesman put the number of German citizens remaining in Afghanistan at around 300. In addition, there are around 10,000 Afghan citizens who had been registered to take part in the evacuation mission, which has now ended.
It is unclear how many of them have already managed to leave the country.
Maas wants to visit Afghanistan's neighboring states Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan as well as Turkey and Qatar.
asa / AFP
