Most of the Afghans stranded in Pakistan with a German acceptance promise have rejected the federal government’s controversial offer to waive their acceptance promise in exchange for money. Of the around 700 people contacted, only 167 had accepted the offer by the end of the year – 357 rejected it, the rest had not yet made a decision: This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a request from the Green Party member of the Bundestag Schahina Gambir, from which the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported on Thursday.
Depending on the case, several thousand euros should be paid for the voluntary exit from the admission programs that the federal government wants to discontinue. By accepting the money, those affected had to ensure that they forego the promised admission to Germany.
Raid on the “shelter house”
The opposition is now calling for a rethink by Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) and Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU). After the raid, they should “not continue to hold on to their conviction that there is no longer any political interest in accepting people from the bridging program or from the human rights list,” said Green MP Shahina Gambir to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. Those affected are in acute danger to their lives and would have to be flown out of Kabul immediately.
After the radical Islamic Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the federal government promised to accept people who had worked for the Bundeswehr or other institutions in the country. There were also commitments for people who were classified as particularly at risk for other reasons – such as women’s rights activists or human rights activists.
