Taliban in Afghanistan: Thousands of refugees want to go to Germany out of fear – Politics Abroad

The Taliban’s advance after NATO’s withdrawal has consequences for Europe – and especially for Germany. The Afghan government is convinced of this.

BILD reporters are currently in Kabul, speaking with Representative Maryam Suleiman Khel, a supporter of President Ashraf Ghani (72). She told Bild: “Since the progress of the Taliban, we have seen that more and more people are applying for passports. Tens of thousands are on the visa lists for Turkey. If things continue like this, there will definitely be a wave of refugees as far as Germany. So Europe should support The Afghan army is financially and trained so that it can fight better.”

The Afghan Ministry of Refugees warned that Germany should stop deportations due to the situation.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are already nearly three million internally displaced people in Afghanistan. In neighboring Pakistan, UNHCR registered 1.5 million Afghan refugees last year.

“If the Taliban advance further, it is likely that more Afghans will flee,” said Wenzel Michalsky, director of Human Rights Watch in Germany. Especially the people who have to flee the Taliban will have a hard time in Pakistan because the country supports Islamists.

“So many flee to Iran in order to reach Europe via Turkey.” In 2020, UNHCR registered 780,000 Afghan refugees in Iran, and about 130,000 refugees in Turkey. But they have no future there because Turkey does not comply with the Geneva Refugee Law and signed the agreement, so Michalsky. The Afghans would have to flee across the Mediterranean under dangerous conditions in order to then reach Western Europe via Greece and the Balkan route.

In 2020, a total of 45,935 asylum applications were submitted by Afghans in the European Union; This year so far there have been 7,587 initial orders in Germany. The protection rate was recently 38.1 per cent. Now lives in Germany 271,805 Afghanis, 26,850 of whom were born here.

Germany is not ready for a possible new influx of refugees, human rights activist Michalsky criticizes. “There should have been a coordinated comprehensive plan and concept for Afghans fleeing after their withdrawal.”

Mathias Middelberg (56, CDU), the local political spokesman for the union’s parliamentary group, promises political vigilance, telling BILD: “We have to monitor the situation closely so that we are not surprised.” If the security situation in Afghanistan changes, the number of applications is expected to increase.