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Afghan refugees are to be brought further to the USA from the US air base in Ramstein
Photo: Senior Airman Taylor Slater / dpa
According to SPIEGEL information, the German authorities are registering an increasing number of Afghans who have been flown from Kabul to the US Ramstein base on American evacuation flights and still apply for asylum in Germany. From security circles it was said that so far there have been around 130 such asylum applications from Afghans, which are actually part of the US protection program for local workers and other vulnerable Afghans.
So far, it is still a very small phenomenon, it was said in security circles. Accordingly, it is mostly Afghans who have relatives in Germany and therefore apply for asylum here. US diplomats said that the number was extremely low compared to almost 25,000 flown out Afghans who were currently waiting in Ramstein for their onward journey to the USA. The US authorities have passed the relevant cases on to the responsible German immigration authorities via the federal police.
The USA uses the Ramstein base as a hub for its Afghanistan protection program and has already brought several thousand Afghans to the USA after the stopover in Germany.
On average, the rescued local workers only stay on the base for a day or two.
For onward transport, the US government uses several civil jets that commute between Ramstein and the USA every day.
The German authorities are still concerned about the increasing number of asylum applications from Afghans from Ramstein.
Especially in the interior department, there are fears that word of the way to stay in Germany will get around among the Afghans.
Then, according to the scenario, a "dynamic development of the situation" could result which, through word of mouth, could lead to thousands of other asylum applications, according to security circles.
US base Ramstein is bursting at the seams
In principle, all Afghans who have made it to Germany have a good chance of their asylum applications being recognized by German courts.
The first precedent judgments after the Taliban came to power have already been approved.
The US Ramstein base is currently overcrowded due to the evacuation operation.
According to US diplomats, around 25,000 Afghans are housed in tents.
The number fluctuates daily, as new planes with rescued people regularly arrive from Doha and at the same time jets take off for the USA.
US Secretary of State Alexander Blinken visits the base on Wednesday, and his German colleague Heiko Maas is also expected in Ramstein.
Most of those who fled Afghanistan were flown out by the US Army via the Ramstein hub.
In early September, the US Air Force announced that it had already taken half of the evacuees to the US or some other safe location.
mgb / muk / dpa / afp