First flight of Afghans via Germany to the US is imminent Israel: 7,000 Hamas terrorists have already been killed – the night update

Nearly 28 months after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the US government continues its efforts to bring former local US military and international aid agencies to the US. A first group of Afghans who were brought to Germany a week ago are already preparing for their onward flight to the US, the “Rheinpfalz” newspaper reported on Sunday, citing the US Consulate General in Frankfurt.

The US government did not want to provide exact figures. The U.S. Consulate General simply stated that a “limited number” of applicants for so-called special immigrant visas would be “temporarily accommodated.” The aim is to issue the visa so quickly that the onward journey takes place in less than 30 days.

According to the newspaper, a total of around 100,000 Afghans have been resettled in the US since the Taliban came to power in August 2021. The ‘Spiegel’ had previously reported that the US government, which had previously flown candidates for the protection program to Qatar, now also wanted to use Germany as an ‘additional location’ for the evacuation of local personnel.

Thousands are stuck

To this day, several thousand people who were promised entry to Germany after the radical Islamist Taliban came to power in August 2021 are still trapped in Afghanistan. However, the German government’s protection program stipulates that the Afghans, including former local workers, first travel to neighboring Pakistan so that the German embassy there can carry out visa formalities and a security check.

Authorities in Pakistan recently announced they would deport back to Afghanistan about 1.7 million Afghans they say were living in the country illegally. As a result of decades of conflict in Afghanistan, millions of residents have fled to neighboring Pakistan. This includes about 600,000 Afghans who crossed the border after the Taliban came to power in 2021.

According to the organization Human Rights Watch, Afghans who have been waiting for resettlement in the US, Britain, Germany and Canada, but whose visas for Pakistan have now expired, are also at risk of deportation. (sda/afp)