At this time, I am in contact with people who are desperately trying to flee from Afghanistan. I also am in contact with people who left Afghanistan years ago, and with people who have many questions.

Alongside the question of how we can now help people to escape Afghanistan, many are pressed by the question of what lessons should be learned from the fiasco of the War in Afghanistan. 20 years of war in Afghanistan with the participation of the German Armed Forces have not brought peace and democracy. On the contrary: the dramatic images from Afghanistan make clear the failures of western interventionist policy.

In this FAQ, which will be continuously updated, I ask questions and attempt to provide answers.

Why did the USA and the German Armed Forces intervene in Afghanistan?

The terror attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington served as the justification for the invasion of Afghanistan which began in October 2001. At the time, some argued that by toppling the Taliban, we could fight international terrorism and defend human rights. For the USA, however, it was never about that. In actuality, not a single Afghan was among the 9/11 attackers. The war against Afghanistan promised a fast victory. From the perspective of US foreign policy, a swift victory in Afghanistan would generate the necessary momentum for further goals: the war against Iraq and other so-called „rogue states,“ which the US President George W. Bush described as the „axis of evil.“ The plans for the intervention in Afghanistan had already been in the works for a long time. The goal was to establish geostrategic influence and a military base in the oil-rich Middle East and Southern-Central Asia.

Thus the German Armed Forces began the longest operation in its history. The Defence Minister of the day, Peter Struck of the Social Democratic Party, justified the operation by claiming that “the security the German Federal Republic will be defended in the Hindu Kush.” For the Red-Green Federal Government, it was also an opportunity to demonstrate German military presence and to restructure the German Armed Forces into an army capable of global deployment. The Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer of the Greens, summarised the power interests behind the operation as follows: “the decision, “Germany will not participate,” would mean a weaking of Europe and, eventually, it would mean us losing influence over the design of a multilateral politics of responsibility. This is exactly what is at stake in the coming years.”

For Germany, Afghanistan was first and foremost a testing ground for the restructuring of the German Armed Forces into a global actor. Alongside American counterparts, the German Armed Forces grew into their new duties, gained experience in combat, learned to operate drones and participated in the systematic murder of opposing combatants.

At the International Conference on Afghanistan in Bonn in December 2001, Hamid Karzai was selected to become the new president of the country. Afghan opposition movements were excluded from these negotiations. President Karzai established a patronage system with the involvement of competing warlords, tribal leaders, drug bosses and other powerful groups. Ever since, soaring corruption and a flourishing opium trade characterised both the government of Karzai and that of his successor. This fed the hatred of the Afghan civilian population towards the occupation. The NATO military operation ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) effectively became the military guarantor of the Karzai regime’s security. The NATO allies came to rely on the support of these warlords and corrupt politicians and marketed this arrangement as engagement for human rights and democracy.

Who are the Taliban?

The Taliban are deeply reactionary. Their victory is a new setback for the women of Afghanistan. The origin of the Taliban is deeply interwoven with the endless interventions, occupations, civil wars and corruption in Afghanistan. The Taliban are a product of the US and Pakistani interference in the Afghan-Soviet War in the 1970s, and were initially recruited from destitute religious schools among the refugee camps in Pakistan. With weapons, cash and training, they were supported by Saudi Arabia, the USA, Pakistan and Germany and trained to drive back Soviet influence in the Afghan-Soviet War. The Taliban advocated for the overcoming of tribal mentalities and conflicts among the various warlords and were therefore able to re-establish the unity of Afghanistan under their domination. The left-wing opposition in Afghanistan were, for the most part, marginalised due to their cooperation with the Soviet Union in the War against the civilian population.

The Taliban’s return to power cannot be understood aside from the devastation, which the NATO intervention brought to Afghanistan.

Doesn’t the triumph of the Taliban, and the chaos in the wake of the USA and Germany’s withdrawal, show that the withdraw was a mistake?

With the fall of Kabul, the narrative that the NATO intervention was building a democratic society modelled on western ideals, through the build-up of local security forces, has finally fallen apart. The US-backed government in Kabul was hated. This hatred towards the regime, widely seen as a corrupt puppet government, explains how the Taliban were able to capture all major cities across the country in just a few days without meeting significant resistance.

The suffering, which the 20 year occupation brought to the Afghan people, provided fertile soil for the Taliban to regain its strength.

The German Federal Government and its allies ignored all warnings that the consequences of the war would enable a resurgence of the Taliban. It was not the withdrawal of international armed forces that caused the chaos; rather, the chaos is a consequences of 20 years of war.

Wasn’t the NATO intervention also about women’s rights?

The argument that the war against the Taliban was about values and human rights is hypocritical. Monica Hauser from the women’s rights organisation Medica Mondiale has said, “you don’t need the Taliban, for men to still have deeply misogynistic ideas in their heads.” The NATO-backed government, too, has neglected the rights of women and girls.

The western occupation of Afghanistan brought an improvement of living conditions only to a small minority of women. The majority of the population never benefited from the war. On the contrary, despite massive international assistance, the societal situation is catastrophic. Since April 2020, around 80 percent of the population lives under the poverty line. According to a report from 2019, around 3.7 million children in Afghanistan do not attend school, 60 percent of whom are girls.

Women’s rights were instrumentalised by the Federal Government. The attitude towards women held by the royal family of Saudi Arabia is similar to that of the Taliban, and yet the Federal Government sells weapons to Saudi Arabia. These weapons, in turn, prolong the war in Yemen.

Afghan human rights defenders, journalists, and all those, who have fought for the rights of women, have now been abandoned as Europe shuts its borders to refugees. Human rights are indivisible, and are the first casualties of war.

We were told that it was necessary to first establish security in order for development to be possible. Isn’t that true?

The focus on the establishment of military security in Afghanistan has brought neither peace nor development. On the contrary, the so-called “civil-military cooperation” subordinated civil assistance to military goals.

The humanitarian situation and the human costs of the war are catastrophic. The IPPNW estimates that in the period from 2001 to 2013, 170,000 Afghan civilians were killed directly in the war. 59 German soldiers lost their lives, 35 of whom were killed in attacks or in combat. The involvement of the German Armed Forces has cost more than 12 billion Euros.

In 2020 alone, nearly 9,000 civilians and over 10,000 Afghan soldiers were killed. According to official statistics, at least 3.54 million people are internally displaced within Afghanistan due to the conflict, plus an additional 1.1 million persons displaced due to drought and floods. Over 2.7 million Afghan refugees are registered outside the country.

The Afghan human rights activist and politician Malalai Joya has said, “the intervention has not changed Afghanistan for the better at all. Instead, it has plunged the country deeper into suffering and tragedy.“ For years, The Left has been warning that both the West‘s support for the corrupt Afghan government and the principle of military „security“ were destined to fail and would give the Taliban renewed momentum. This is now exactly what has happened, and the price for it is being paid by the people who now try to flee.

What is the German Government trying to achieve via its mandate for military evacuations?

The German Federal Government has completely failed in the evacuation of vulnerable people from Afghanistan. Despite all warnings, they never had a realistic assessment of the situation and therefore significantly delayed the rescue operation. Bureaucratic obstacles further hindered the early departure of local employees.

For years, the German Government has failed to provide straightforward support to its local support workers and their families in Afghanistan. On the 21^st of April this year, as in previous years, the members of parliament from The Left demanded the generous relocation to Germany of local Afghan support workers, and has continued to do so since. On the 22^nd of June, the parliamentary faction of The Left demanded the evacuation of all local Afghan support workers. This was rejected by all other parties.

Since the 17^th of August, the German Armed Forces have been flying people out of Kabul. Now the Federal Government has given the Armed Forces a mandate which explicitly allows the use of military force throughout all of Afghanistan, according to which German commando forces are to be deployed. German citizens and – pending adequate capacity – employees of international NGOs and “further designated persons” are to be evacuated.

According to the legal services of the German Foreign Office, the still-valid mandate explicitly intends the evacuation as an option for military deployment. This shows that the German Government, with the support of the Federal Parliament, intends to shift the responsibility for the disastrous evacuation onto other shoulders.

The German military has now sent special forces helicopters to Kabul. These are intended for use in rescuing people from difficult-to-reach areas. However, the deployment of German special forces poses an enormous risk of escalation.

The underlying problem is that the group of people eligible for evacuation is tightly limited. Human rights activists and at-risk Afghan civilians are not on the priority list. Many of them have waited desperately at the airport in Kabul over the last few days and have now been turned away. According to reports from people at the scene, chartered civilian airplanes, which were sent to evacuate human rights activists, have being prevented from landing by the US Army. The German Government must put immediate pressure on the USA to ensure that no aircraft are prevented from landing.

The largest group of people attempting to reach safety are internally displaced persons. The do not make it onto the evacuation lists of the US or German governments.

What should The Left demand?

There need to be fast and unbureaucratic efforts to evacuate not only the local Afghan employees of the German Armed Forces, but also the local employees of German international development organisations, human rights defenders, media representatives, and their families. Furthermore, Germany must now put pressure on the US Government, which is in negotiations with the Taliban over the evacuation.

The Left must advocate for the intake and accommodation of all persons who need or want to flee. There must be a massive investment into the UN Refugee Fund for Afghanistan. Deportations must be immediately and permanently stopped. There must be open escape routes into the neighbouring countries around Afghanistan and into, and throughout, the European Union.

What lessons do we need to learn from Afghanistan?

With the defeat of western imperialism in Afghanistan, the interventionalist policy of NATO has failed dramatically. In the German Federal Government, doubts are growing about operations such as in Afghanistan and Mali. What The Left has said all along has proven to be true: democracy, human rights and development cannot be imposed from outside with bombs. The Left must maintain pressure, both within parliament and on the streets, for an immediate stop to foreign military operations and to all weapons exports, and for open borders for all people in need.

This is a translation of a German press statement which was published on 24 August 2021. Translation: Tim Redfern. Reproduced with permission

You are in contact with people inside and outside Kabul airport. What is happening at the moment?

There’s basically an unofficial three step process to get out of the country, not necessarily in chronological order. The first step is to get on some kind of list to get out of the country. There is a proliferating number of lists. It’s very confusing. Some lists emerged then were scrapped again. And by no means does it mean that being on the list will help you to get out at all. But from what we understand, not being on the list means the only way to get out is by hanging on to a plane.

The second step is to get into the airport. Again, this is not necessarily in chronological order. So you can currently get into the airport without a list, but you need to get into the airport and the third step is to get into a plane.

And the problem is that each step is very difficult for ordinary people. It’s impossible to get onto that list. It looks like like the only people who get out have a certain way of either communicating with people in power or have friends abroad.

From what I understand, the people who get on the list are activists, human rights defenders, journalists, et cetera – people that must leave – but they are not, quote unquote, ordinary Afghans. And so there is a quote unquote necessary hierachisation. By “necessary” I don’t mean that it is a good thing, but that it is the inevitable consequence of this absolutely disgraceful withdrawal and the aftermath of the way it’s been conducted.

On the other hand, people who were activists in the provinces have many more difficulties getting out because most of their initiatives and projects were organized by bigger organizations in Kabul. And as a result, they never had any direct contact with the Western backers, and probably won’t be able to get out.

Social media is full of a picture of one US-American aeroplane which rescued 600 people. Does this mean that people are getting out?

Yes, our source inside the airport has confirmed that planes are coming and going, especially U.S. and some British. I’m not sure whether she saw British planes leaving or she just saw British army personnel. But U.S. and British are coming and going, and they have taken substantial numbers of Afghans for the past few hours. But again, it doesn’t seem to be making any difference number wise and the airport is not getting any emptier.

22 of our 25 employees are in Kabul. They’re all outside the airport property right now. The airport property begins approximately 1.5 kilometres from the airport terminal. And there is no way to get in right now. Probably the only way to get in would be if some armed group with a military or even the Taliban themselves would open some kind of corridor for people to go through. Other than that, there’s thousands of people trying to get in and there’s just no way.

Getting into the airport right now is almost an impossibility. This may obviously change any minute, but for the past few days and hours, this has further deteriorated. People are stranded outside. And, of course, it’s dangerous to just sit there with the Taliban presence. There are so many people there that abuse is happening, harassment is happening. You can imagine what’s happening to the many women sitting there waiting.

It’s a highly volatile situation, but our people are there. A few have decided to stay in Afghanistan for now, mostly because they have families. One of our staff is inside the airport. She managed to get in. Obviously we’re trying to get her out while also hoping that she can continue to give us information about what’s happening and perhaps support the evacuation of other people.

How other Western governments, particularly Germany, reacting?

Well, from what we know, obviously way too late and thanks to a lot of public pressure and the power of images, the German government seems to be ever so slowly waking up to the need to somehow manage the disgrace they are constantly bringing upon themselves.

From what we understand they are trying to get people out, including many organizations and individual staff members who worked with German government-funded institutions or German state-funded organizations and projects, or the military.

At the same time, the German government and other governments are – let’s put it diplomatically – not clear about whom they are evacuating. The policy right now, as far as we understand, is that only people who directly worked with the government, the military or a publicly funded organization would be evacuated, but not their families. Which is not surprising, but is a huge disgrace. At this stage, all I want to say is that let’s make sure that people will be evacuated with their families.

The German government is waking up very, very late to its responsibilities. In the long run, we need a very thorough self reflection about the past 20 years. This must be self-critical and open to public scrutiny. But for now, what we are demanding from the German government is to honour that commitment to get people who worked with Germans out of the country, including their family members.

How did the Taliban take power so quickly?

Honestly, the first thing that I must say, this deserves a longer and more in-depth analysis. It’s difficult right now to try to summarize why this happened in one or two quick sentences.

But of course it has to do with a long history of an attempt to impose a way of life onto the Afghan people from 2001 onwards. The invasion was was never about human rights. It was never about democracy. It was never about the women. It was never about the schools. It was revenge for September 11th. It was a colonial project.

The central government never had any any substantial support in the country. The army is composed of people from all over the country and different ethnic groups which are at odds and even at war with each other. It was always an impossibility to keep that army together and fight for a fatherland, for a nation that was never their nation to begin with because they didn’t really recognize the government and they certainly didn’t feel any effective political connection to them.

So, for many soldiers, being in the army was a job to earn money and be able to serve your family. I mean, so many are now laying down their weapons because under a Taliban regime, they would be punished, they would be persecuted. And there is no point in sticking up for a government that is no longer there or that was already in the process of disintegrating and that you never affiliated with in the first place.

These are some of the factors. There are many others, of course. People are also tired of war after so many decades. Even quote unquote, ordinary people didn’t rise up, even though some of them probably had guns. Many of them are tired of it.

The Taliban are a formidable force, even though they’re a complex entity and have different strands. There was probably also some kind of process that they just could not be stopped any more. With the Taliban gaining more and more ground in the provinces people started to believe that this is what was going to happen, that they were going to conquer the country. As a result, they took precautionary measures to make sure that they are on the side of the victors.

What can we in the West do to help you? What should we be demanding of our governments?

Put pressure on the German government, the British government, all the governments, especially in terms of opening the airport, opening a pathway for people to get into the terminal because it’s jammed. And any evacuation of people must be with their family members. Governments are adopting a policy of only taking out staff, Afghan staff, who directly work with Western governments, embassies or NGOs.

I’m not in Kabul, but I’m coordinating, trying to get our people out of there. They are all outside the airport right now. It’s almost impossible to get in. So, please put that word out there. People must be taken out, evacuated together with their families now.

Finally, how are you coping?

There’s a little bit of a nervous lull right now because it’s late in the evening already. And it’s been a long day. Another day has passed, another fruitless day, unsuccessful day, discouraging day. We had 20 people, 20 hard core human rights activists sitting outside the airport compound since 6am. It’s 9.30 in the evening and they’re still there. So they’ve been there for 13, 14 hours straight.

It’s a highly straining environment, a lot of pressure. Many people, a lot of noises, people with guns. This is very intimidating for some of the women – not because women are weaker – but because they’re being harassed and looked at.

Of course, things may change in the next five minutes. But that’s the way it looks and that’s, of course, very draining. Very, very draining.