icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
17 Aug, 2021 10:53

Germany’s first Afghan evacuation plane leaves with only 7 people despite Merkel’s plan to evacuate 10,000

Germany’s first Afghan evacuation plane leaves with only 7 people despite Merkel’s plan to evacuate 10,000

Germany’s first plane in Kabul since the airport was flooded with desperate Afghans seeking a way out of the country failed to evacuate more than seven people. Berlin’s defense minister blamed chaos on the tarmac for the failure.

On Tuesday, Germany reported that only seven people had successfully been evacuated from Kabul on the A400M transport plane – the first German aircraft to arrive at the airport since the Taliban took control of the capital on Monday. Shortly after the militant group captured the city, thousands flooded the airport in a desperate bid to escape persecution. The overcrowded runway forced the German aircraft to undertake a “breakneck landing,” according to Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

“We have a very chaotic, dangerous and complex situation at the airport,” the minister told reporters. “We had very little time, so we only took on board people who were on site.”

Also on rt.com As German military plane FAILS to land in Kabul, Merkel calls US-led Afghanistan mission ‘NOT AS SUCCESSFUL’ as hoped

Only seven people made it onto the plane before it had to leave quickly, according to a Foreign Ministry spokesperson. The news comes a day after Chancellor Angela Merkel told her party colleagues that Germany plans to evacuate up to 10,000 people from Afghanistan, including lawyers and activists whose lives may be in danger due to the worsening conflict with the Taliban since the withdrawal of US and other Western nations’ troops.

Germany is waiting for US permission to fly a second aircraft in from Tashkent, which it is using as a hub, according to Reuters.

On Monday, Merkel praised the Afghanistan war for preventing Al-Qaeda from repeating its September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, but she also added that “everything else that has followed has not been as successful and has not been achieved in the way that we had planned.”

Also on rt.com High-res satellite photos shows Kabul airport chaos as crowds of Afghans swarm runway in desperate effort to flee (PHOTOS)

The chancellor’s stated ambition to accept thousands of Afghan refugees caused mixed reactions from within the ruling Christian Democratic Union party (CDU). “For us, it is clear that 2015 must not be repeated,” said Paul Ziemiak, general secretary of the party.

“We won’t be able to solve the Afghanistan question through migration to Germany,” he added, referring to Merkel’s decision in 2015 to accept more than a million refugees mainly from Syria, which damaged the CDU’s popularity.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!

Podcasts
0:00
23:13
0:00
25:0