Afghanistan: U.S. wants to fly local forces to Germany

12/9/2023, 9:46:57 AM

Highlights: U.S. has asked Germany for help in rescuing thousands of Afghans. State Department wants to bring former local employees on flights from Kabul to Ramstein. Afghans who have already been checked are to be accommodated in a US barracks in Kaiserslautern, and the Consulate General in Frankfurt will then issue the "Special Immigration Visas" for onward travel to the USA. To this day, several thousand people who were promised admission to Germany after the Taliban took power are still stuck in Afghanistan.

The U.S. has promised to allow tens of thousands of former Afghan local workers who fear persecution by the Taliban to leave the country. Now the State Department wants to use Germany as an "additional location" for the protection program.

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Evacuation from Kabul 2021

Photograph:

Sra T. Crul / U.S. Navy / ZUMA / picture alliance

The U.S. has asked Germany for help in rescuing thousands of Afghans who worked for the U.S. Army and other institutions in the Hindu Kush until 2021. The State Department wants to bring former local employees who are legally allowed to immigrate to the U.S. on flights from Kabul to Ramstein. In Germany, the Afghans who have already been checked are to be accommodated in a US barracks in Kaiserslautern, and the Consulate General in Frankfurt will then issue the "Special Immigration Visas" for onward travel to the USA.

Last weekend, there was a test flight with around 200 Afghans. The U.S. has promised to allow tens of thousands of former local workers to leave the country, and so far candidates for the protection program have been flown to Qatar first. The U.S. government confirmed that it now wants to use Germany as an "additional location" for the protection program. To this day, several thousand people who were promised admission to Germany after the Taliban took power are still stuck in Afghanistan. However, the German government's protection programme stipulates that the Afghans must first travel to neighbouring Pakistan so that the German embassy can carry out the visa formalities and a security check there.

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