No evacuation flights are leaving Kabul airport at the moment because desperate people trying to flee the country are blocking the tarmac, a spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said on Monday.
“I understand there is no air traffic at the moment because a large number of desperate people are crowding the tarmac,” the spokesperson told journalists in Berlin.
Forty staff from the German embassy were flown out to Doha overnight, he said, adding a small team of less than ten staff would remain at Kabul airport to coordinate evacuations.
Germany may need to evacuate as many as 10,000 people from Afghanistan, chancellor Angela Merkel told party colleagues on Monday, according to party sources.
That includes 2,500 Afghan support staff as well as human rights activists, lawyers and others whom the government sees being at risk if they remain in the country after the Taliban seized Kabul.
She also said that Germany should cooperate with countries bordering Afghanistan to support those fleeing from the country now.
“This topic will keep us busy for a very long time,” she said, according to the party sources.
