Germany: Berlin sends military planes to evacuate nationals from Kabul - FM Maas

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German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the country sent military planes to Kabul to evacuate German nationals to neighbouring countries adding that the transition of power to the Taliban was imminent. He made the statement in Berlin on Sunday.

“In this situation the biggest priority is safety of our citizens and our embassy staff as well as of people who have worked with us in the recent years. That is why we decided this morning to relocate our embassy staff to a militarily secured area at the airport in Kabul. The colleagues are there now and they are safe there,” said Maas.

“We are now doing everything we can to enable our citizens and our former local staff to leave the country in the coming days. The circumstances under which this can take place are difficult to predict at the moment. That is why we are in close contact with the USA and other international partners,” added the official.

The statement came after reports that Taliban fighters took over the presidential palace in Kabul with the Afghanistan’s leadership fleeing the country.

TRANSLATIONS:

SOT, Heiko Maas, German Foreign Minister (German): “The news and the pictures that we are getting now from Afghanistan are really just. We and the whole world have witnessed how fast the Taliban has taken over control and how little had the Afghan forces to offer against it. A part of the Afghan government has already left the country is now abroad and the transition to Taliban is imminent.”

SOT, Heiko Maas, German Foreign Minister (German): “In this situation the biggest priority is the safety of our citizens and our embassy staff as well as of the people who have worked with us in the recent years. That is why we decided this morning to relocate our embassy staff to a militarily secured area at the airport in Kabul. The colleagues are there now and they are safe there. We have just been in contact with them at a meeting of the crisis team and thanked them once again for the difficult work they are currently doing there. Some of them will be flown out of Kabul later in the day.”

SOT, Heiko Maas, German Foreign Minister (German): “We in the crisis team have also decided this afternoon that Bundeswehr planes will leave for Kabul tonight to support the necessary evacuation work and to carry it out in the coming days. The flights, which are operated by the Bundeswehr with military aircraft, initially take place from Kabul to a neighbouring country and for the following transportation from there to Germany we will also provide civil aircraft. An operational core team of the embassy will remain in Kabul, at the place where the colleagues are now housed at the airport, in order to maintain the necessary work in order to be able to fulfil the further evacuation measures in the next few days.”

SOT, Heiko Maas, German Foreign Minister (German): “We are now doing everything we can to enable our citizens and our former local staff to leave the country in the coming days. The circumstances under which this can take place are difficult to predict at the moment. That is why we are in close contact with the USA and other international partners. We have agreed that we will support each other with the evacuation measures in the coming days. We have given others support and we also accept their support in the coming days. I would also like to expressly thank the international partners for this close cooperation. Thank you.”

#Afghanistan #Germany #Kabul #Taliban

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