"Kabul Airlift": Interior Ministry blocks evacuations

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A transport plane of the Bundeswehr (archive image)

Photo: Friso Gentsch / dpa

At the end of August, the private rescue mission "Kabul Airlift" evacuated 189 people from Kabul.

According to the rescue mission, 65 of the people now fear that they will be forcibly flown to the USA.

While 124 of the evacuees were flown via Doha in Qatar to the US Airbase Ramstein in Germany, the other 65 people are waiting in Rota, Spain, to be allowed to travel on to Germany.

But the US airbase in Rota will be evacuated by the Americans on September 9th.

According to the rescue mission, the Federal Ministry of the Interior nevertheless refused to examine the individual case and blocked the onward journey, although admission to Germany had previously been guaranteed by the Foreign Office.

After the end of the Bundeswehr Airlift, the German government announced that it would begin a second phase to rescue endangered Afghans.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on behalf of the government that anyone who did not make it to the rescue flights of the Bundeswehr will not be left in the lurch.

The "Kabul Airlift" was founded when the Taliban conquered Afghanistan with unprecedented speed.

After several attempts, the activists managed to fly 189 people out of the Afghan capital at the end of August.

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