The German government calls on the radical Taliban* movement, which controls Afghanistan, to show restraint so as not to endanger people’s lives and to ensure the possibility of humanitarian work in the country, said the spokesman for the German Cabinet of Ministers Steffen Seibert.
“The federal government joins UN Secretary General (Antonio) Gutteres’s call to demand from the Taliban * restraint, protect lives to enable humanitarian work,” he said at a briefing on Monday.
According to him, German Chancellor Angela Merkel took part in the discussion of the situation within the government on Sunday, is in close contact with responsible ministers and plans to hold a meeting again today with the participation of leaders of the Bundestag factions.
“This development is causing us great concern, including the fate of individual Afghans, as well as the fate of the country, and this is a sad development, given the long-term operation of Western countries. As a federal government, we focus on clear objectives, namely, the evacuation of German embassy employees, employees of German organizations working in Afghanistan, as well as, as much as possible, more local Afghan employees, those with whom we have worked for a long time”, Seibert said.
The situation in Afghanistan has become especially aggravated in recent weeks, with the Taliban advancing on major cities. On Sunday, media and sources said the rebels were in control of all border crossings. Later that day, militants said they had entered Kabul and taken control of the presidential palace. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he left the country “to prevent the carnage.” On Monday night, an official spokesman for the Taliban political office * Muhammad Naim said that the war in Afghanistan is over, and the form of government in the state will become clear in the near future.
*-Terrorist organization banned in Russia