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Afghanistan committee of inquiry to investigate failed evacuation

2022-06-02T10:03:20.936Z


The rescue of many Afghan local workers after the Taliban took power failed. Before the summer break, the Bundestag is to set up a committee of inquiry, headed by SPD politician Stegner.


Enlarge image

Refugees in a Bundeswehr Airbus (photo from August 2021)

Photo: Marc Tessensohn / Bundeswehr / dpa

The victory of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2021 put the lives of many people in danger - including those who had supported Western armed forces in previous years.

They were supposed to be taken out of the country, but for many there was no rescue.

The evacuation of these local workers will now be the subject of a committee of inquiry in the Bundestag before the summer break.

"There was an agreement with the opposition," said SPD politician Ralf Stegner to the editorial network Germany (RND).

According to the report, Stegner will lead the committee.

"The plan is to make the appointment decision in the next week of meetings at the end of June," he is quoted as saying.

After that, some organizational preparations had to be made before work could really begin after the parliamentary summer break in autumn.

Like the other western partners, the Bundeswehr withdrew from Afghanistan at the end of June 2021 after almost 20 years and took part in an evacuation mission for those in need of protection in August after the Taliban triumphed.

The Taliban took power in the country in mid-August without much resistance from the Afghan armed forces.

The then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) as well as the then Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) and other members of the then federal government had admitted misjudgments of the situation in the crisis country (read more here).

Stegner reported that the government and opposition factions had also agreed on the establishment of a commission of inquiry.

She is supposed to deal with the entire Afghanistan mission of the Bundeswehr, which lasted almost 20 years - as well as with the question of what will follow from this for other missions abroad.

"The investigative committee will deal with the question of who contributed to the fact that the evacuation operation went awry," said Stegner.

The aim of the commission of inquiry is to draw conclusions for future operations.

The text of the application for the committee of inquiry, which SPIEGEL has seen, states that "many Afghan local staff from German agencies, without whom the engagement in Afghanistan would not have been possible, were not brought out of Afghanistan in time."

The "Pioneer" portal had previously reported on this.

The committee should also clarify what all ministries and authorities involved knew about the security situation in Afghanistan and whether withdrawal scenarios and emergency plans existed.

The parliamentarians should also make recommendations for the future, for example for communication within the federal government, for exchange with international partners and for dealing with local staff.

The commission of inquiry is to meet under the topic »Lessons from Afghanistan for Germany's future networked engagement«.

Your task will be "to comprehensively review the entire German foreign, security and development policy engagement in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021," says the text of the application.

"Lessons for Germany's future military and civilian international engagement" were to be drawn.

It is also stated that the "self-set" goals "have not been achieved in part".

"The experience of the Afghanistan mission is therefore also a serious turning point for the international action of the Federal Government."

Twelve members of the Bundestag and twelve experts are to belong to the commission of inquiry.

SPD and Union appoint three members each, Greens and FDP two each, AfD and Linke one member each.

The commission of inquiry should “constitute itself immediately and present its results and recommendations for action no later than after the parliamentary summer break in 2024”, according to the application.

as /mgb/dpa/AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-06-02

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