Germany To Send 600 Troops To Aid Evacuation

Germany will send up to 600 army personnel to Kabul to help evacuate German citizens and former Afghan local embassy staff.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved the mission which started Monday. Germany’s Bundestag Parliament will have to vote on the military mission as well which is likely going to happen next week.

Every armed foreign deployment of the German army has to be approved by parliament in Germany.

Normally this has to happen before the start of the deployment but in this case, because of the imminent danger German citizens were exposed to in Afghanistan, Cabinet and parliament were also allowed to approve the mission in retrospect.

Germany has already closed its embassy on Sunday; however, a core embassy team will keep working at the airport to support the evacuations. As said by parliamentary sources, the military troops will help speed up the evacuation process and will also help in providing security to all the people.

According to a local German website DW, German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also spoke regarding the evacuation process. He prioritised bringing the citizens back to Germany at this moment.

Further, the European Council President Charles Michel also said that the security of EU personnel and Afghan citizens is the current priority.