Following the escalation of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the Taliban taking over the country for the second time, Berlin is trying to increase the evacuation of Afghan citizens. In the latest case, Germany has announced that it is attempting to evacuate another 45,000 Afghan refugees. The German Foreign Ministry has set up a new form so that applicants can share their information with German authorities to identify then prepare for evacuation.
German intelligence seeks to provide evacuation opportunities to four vulnerable groups, including Afghan colleagues, German citizens, Afghan family members, human rights activists, women rights activists, journalists, and other vulnerable groups. Former members of the security forces can be included in the evacuation process in Germany by completing this form.
The most vulnerable Afghan citizens are those who have stood up to the Taliban’s re-emergence in the last 20 years. The Taliban are trying to identify or arrest these people by placing them. Now the world, especially Germany, is trying to save the lives of these people who are currently in despair, waiting to be evacuated from Afghanistan.
Afghan journalists are more under threat than any other group, and they call on countries around the world to act quickly to evacuate Afghan citizens, especially journalists. Abdulmutallab is the pseudonym of a journalist who has been in a state of despair for several months and has resigned for fear of the Taliban returning. He says life is no more hell for him.
“When the Taliban returned to political power, not only did I lose my job, but all my 20-year efforts were wasted. Over the past five months, I have repeatedly worked with institutions to help evacuate Afghans,” Motaleb said. “I have contacted them and asked them to evacuate my family and me from Afghanistan as much as possible, but so far, no one has responded to our requests.”
Zohreh Ghaderi is another journalist who has worked to defend women’s rights. “International organizations, especially those defending journalists, have repeatedly stated that they are evacuating journalists from Afghanistan. Unfortunately, these groups are evacuating people who have fake documents, but hundreds of real journalists remain in Afghanistan, and their fate is unclear,” she said. “The Taliban are trying to maintain their political power by increasing their control over the local media and threatening journalists.”
Civil society activists, journalists, and vulnerable groups in Afghanistan are now urging Germany to be more careful to be more transparent in evacuating Afghans and not to allow exploiters to be evacuated from Afghanistan in the name of journalists’ civil society activists. Thousands of Afghans fled Afghanistan with fake documents as the United States and other allies evacuated thousands of Afghans.
Germany is trying to evacuate nearly 45,000 Afghans
