As the German forces are preparing to leave Afghanistan, some individuals and organizations call on the German federal government to protect Afghan local employees who have worked with Germany’s mission in Afghanistan.
The appeal titled Support Initiative for the Admission of Germany’s Afghan Local Employees is supported by over 90 individuals and associations. The appeal network included former ministers of state, high-ranking German diplomats, former inspectors general and supreme commanders of the Bundeswehr and ISAF troops, senior police officer, members of the German parliament, academics, researchers working in Afghanistan, several aid organizations, and groups of Afghan diaspora in Germany.
The initiators urge the German federal government to bring the Afghan local employees of Germany mission to a safe place as the Taliban see them as “collaborator with the West”.
“While the troops have long been preparing to return under increased security precautions, the fear of the local employees for their safety and their lives – as well as that of their family members – are currently growing. The Taliban have repeatedly made it clear that they see these local employees as ‘collaborators with the West’,” read a press statement issued by the initiators.
The statement warns that “threats against and attacks on local employees have been reported for years. A former Bundeswehr interpreter was murdered as early as 2013. Current German media reports showed threatened local workers left behind in Afghanistan”.
“The undersigned demand to waive unrealistic or unreasonable examination procedures as well as the exclusion criterion, which only allows people who have worked as local staff in the last two years, for the potential applicants”, said the statement.
The Support Initiative for the Admission of Germany’s Afghan Local Employees is raised while a few months ago a number of Afghan employees of the German mission in Afghanistan had protested in front of a military camp of German forces in Mazar-e-Sharif demanding asylum.
