Investigative committee: Seehofer, Scholz and Merkel witnesses within the Afghanistan committee | EUROtoday

State secretaries from numerous ministries who often focus on the present scenario however don’t make any choices. An ongoing battle between the Interior Ministry and the Foreign Office that has remained unresolved for months. These are simply two of a number of structural issues that the Bundestag’s Afghanistan investigation committee has uncovered.

The committee, which examines the circumstances of the hectic German evacuation from Kabul in August 2021 and the acceptance of Afghan native employees, all the time meets on Thursdays throughout assembly weeks. So far, public curiosity has been manageable – most likely additionally as a result of new crises with the Ukraine and Middle East wars are dominating the headlines.

Committee interviews former members of the final Merkel cupboard

With the questioning of former Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) as a witness this Thursday, the taking of proof is slowly coming to an finish. According to Seehofer, the MPs, who’re finally supposed to jot down a report with suggestions for extra environment friendly processes in disaster conditions, need to interview a number of former and present cupboard members by Christmas. These embrace – as of now – Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), former Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), former Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) and former Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD).

Seehofer will most likely need to reply questions above all concerning the final deportations to Afghanistan that he pushed earlier than the Taliban got here to energy in Kabul. The MPs additionally need to know from the political pensioner why the ministry he headed on the time insisted on intensive safety checks when accepting native Bundeswehr staff and former staff of different German establishments from Afghanistan in the summertime of 2021. This slowed down the recording course of considerably.

Complex check or fast admission?

Although the Foreign Office insisted till the final minute on maintaining the German embassy in Kabul open, it spoke out in favor of a simplified admission process for native employees with a visa being issued upon arrival.

In June 2021, there was a question among the many numerous federal authorities departments to learn how many native employees have labored for the varied German establishments since 2013 – this era was set by Merkel – and would due to this fact theoretically be eligible for admission. The Foreign Office initially registered 59 Afghans, the Defense Ministry registered 1,300 native staff with employment contracts with the Bundeswehr, and the Development Ministry registered greater than 3,500 former and present native staff. The Interior Ministry estimated that since some had already obtained approvals, a most of 70 extra functions may very well be anticipated.

As a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior reported on request, the federal authorities has enabled the entry of over 36,000 Afghans in danger, together with their relations, into the continuing admission course of from Afghanistan. As a part of the federal admission program, 3,082 Afghans together with their family members have at the moment been accepted, 682 of whom have now arrived.

“In particular, it should be ruled out that people who could pose a threat to public safety and order are admitted,” stated a spokeswoman for the Ministry of the Interior. According to them, these checks have additionally included pre-entry interviews since June 2023. According to the Federal Government’s data, there have thus far been no instances by which folks from the federal admission program for Afghanistan entered the nation regardless of safety issues and doubts. If such issues come up, the acceptance letter might be revoked, “so that the basis for issuing a visa for entry no longer applies,” stated the spokeswoman.

The federal authorities can also be not conscious of any instances by which individuals who got here from Afghanistan through the admission packages “were classified in Germany as a threat or relevant person in the area of ​​politically motivated crime – religious ideology – or are assigned to the Islamist spectrum of people.” the speaker when requested. The police converse of a “threat” once they describe individuals who they imagine are answerable for severe, politically motivated crimes and even terrorist assaults. The “Islamist spectrum of people” is a class utilized by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

The Greens and the FDP have been in opposition on August 15, 2021, when the Taliban took the Afghan capital with just about no resistance. The Green Party politician Sara Nanni requested Miguel Berger, then State Secretary within the Foreign Office, in a committee assembly what choices the State Secretaries of the varied ministries made of their rounds on Afghanistan on the time. His reply: “Well, it’s not the case that the operative part of a meeting of state secretaries results from the fact that you end up saying: one, two, three, but rather that you talk to each other and develop a common understanding of a situation.”

Witness calls the group of state secretaries an “informal committee”

When the FDP MP Ann-Veruschka Jurisch wished to know from the then State Secretary within the Development Ministry, Martin Jäger, whether or not the group had made any choices in any respect or – within the occasion of issues – raised them to the ministerial degree, he replied: “That was not a committee with a decision, where there were draft resolutions.” He additionally can’t keep in mind a proper referral resolution to the ministerial degree. His conclusion: “It was an informal committee.”

From Jurisch’s standpoint, these are findings that talk in favor of the creation of a National Security Council, which her occasion has been calling for for a very long time. “Clear decision-making paths and responsibilities in security policy are absolutely necessary,” says the FDP politician. And: “A turning point also means learning from past mistakes.”

Organized irresponsibility once more?

The evaluation is harking back to an investigative committee from the earlier electoral interval. After the terrorist assault on the Berlin Christmas market in 2016, it grew to become recognized that the later attacker Anis Amri was mentioned extra usually than virtually another radical Islamist within the Joint Terrorism Defense Center (GTAZ) of the federal and state governments, however with none motion being taken. The rejected asylum seeker from Tunisia frequented Salafist mosques and offered medication. He was recognized to authorities by a number of aliases.

The Green Party’s home politician Irene Mihalic later assessed, after listening to quite a few witnesses in an investigative committee, that there was “a kind of organized irresponsibility” within the GTAZ on the time. Security circles say that there have been some modifications within the GTAZ for the reason that assault on Breitscheidplatz – equivalent to a greater definition of clear duties for particular person instances and a more in-depth coordination of operational measures. More detailed minutes are actually being saved at conferences.