IAt the German embassy in Islamabad, everything was ready for the visit of the foreign minister, home-made cakes and cool drinks on the tables, the staff at the visa office and the “Kabul Evacuation Task Force” in joyful anticipation. Annalena Baerbock had planned two days to hold political talks in the Pakistani capital to advocate further departures from Afghanistan by former employees of German ministries, several thousand of whom have now come to Germany via Pakistan. While parts of her delegation had already arrived at the embassy and were holding talks there, the Greens politician was still having lunch with her colleague Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, two kilometers away. She had just planted a little tree side by side with the minister when the outside temperature was 40 degrees. Everyone was now waiting for her arrival at the embassy.
But then things turned out differently: Baerbock could not taste anything when eating with her colleague, it was said. A rapid corona test was therefore carried out immediately, the second that day; the result: positive. Immediately all fellow travelers of their delegation were informed. Some of them had been in close contact with Baerbock over the past few hours. Only a little later all other dates of the trip planned for five days were canceled, visits to Athens, Ankara and Istanbul. “We can’t tell you how things will continue logistically,” they said. Now you have to wait for the PCR test.
enabled 90,000 people to leave the country
Baerbock had traveled to Pakistan because, according to the Federal Foreign Office, there is a key to further evacuations of former local staff and other vulnerable people from Afghanistan. Tens of thousands have tried to leave Afghanistan since the fall of Kabul and the return of the Taliban. According to the Federal Foreign Office, more than 14,000 people have come to Germany via Pakistan since January. They had previously received an entry permit from the German authorities. In addition to Islamabad’s willingness to cooperate, another prerequisite for this was settling German departmental disputes, including those between the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Office.
As an opposition politician, Baerbock had criticized the hesitancy and narrow-mindedness of the then federal government and also of her predecessor Heiko Maas (SPD) in evacuating Afghan helpers. For more than two decades, these had supported the German development aid workers, soldiers of the Bundeswehr and diplomats from the foreign service as interpreters, drivers or in other activities. Others had fought for a free Afghanistan, for women’s rights and freedom of the press. Many were left behind in the West’s hasty withdrawal from Kabul. The Bundeswehr had flown out several thousand people with an airlift in August last year. At the instigation of the then opposition of the Greens and FDP, a committee of inquiry is now to shed light on the possible failure of the government at the time. Baerbock sees himself and the office as having an obligation to do better and started her term in office with an Afghanistan action plan, among other things.
According to Bhutto-Zardari, Pakistan has enabled more than 90,000 people from over 30 countries to leave Afghanistan. A “third phase” for transit refugees to Germany is currently being planned. On Tuesday, however, the main focus was on the possible illness and return journey of the minister and her delegation.