By Fabian Nitschmann, dpa
Kabul (dpa) – Two German military helicopters have arrived in the Afghan capital Kabul to help with the evacuation of people trying to flee the Taliban, as the situation at and around the airport becomes more desperate by the day.
“The two Airbus H145M helicopters loaded yesterday in Wunstorf have arrived in Kabul,” the Bundeswehr wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning.
The Taliban, Afghanistan’s new rulers, control access to the area around the airport compound.
The helicopters will enable endangered people who cannot make it to the airport due to the dangerous security situation to be brought to safety.
The two H-145M aircraft are assigned to special forces and were requested by the United States.
The US troops mainly fly larger helicopters and need a smaller machine in urban areas, Inspector General Eberhard Zorn said in Berlin on Friday.
The Bundeswehr aircraft will always be accompanied by US helicopters during their missions.
“This is a real air operation. This is not a ‘taxi service’,” Zorn said. The helicopters are designed to land in densely built-up areas.
So far, the Bundeswehr has only been deployed inside Kabul airport, which is secured by US troops.
Another Bundeswehr plane carrying seven people took off from the airport early on Saturday and landed in Tashkent just over an hour later, the Bundeswehr said.
So far, German military planes have evacuated over 1,800 people on shuttle flights between and Tashkent, from where people are brought to Germany on civilian flights.
The German embassy had warned overnight of the difficult and dangerous access to the airport in Kabul in a letter to those hoping to get on an evacuation flight.
Those who decided to get from their homes to the airport must do so at their own risk, the embassy statement said.
Be the first to comment on "German choppers arrive for evacuation mission outside Kabul airport"