Germany withdraws development aid to Afghanistan after Taliban overtakes Kabul

In a major announcement, German Development Minister Gerd Muller has announced the withdrawal of development aid to Afghanistan. The statement came in the light of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul, the German Press Agency reported. "State Cooperation on development is suspended for the time being,' Muller said in an interview with the German newspaper Rheinische Post.

Germany had been investing in developing Afghanistan since 2015. It has been sanctioning over 200 million euros every year under the German Cooperation with Afghanistan scheme for multi-sector development. The scheme covered the building of sustainable infrastructure for rural development, security and restructuring of peace, social development, governance and democracy, and economic development. The model was commissioned under the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Federal Foreign Office. Government-sanctioned Humanitarian Aid and Development group, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), also ceased its operations in Afghanistan following the Taliban capture, German news agency dpa reported on Tuesday.

Following the highly-anticipated Taliban seizure of the Afghan capital, Kabul, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development on its Afghanistan page announced the conclusion of the development projects instrumental in Afghanistan. "The security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated drastically and remains highly dynamic. Government development Cooperation is currently suspended due to the current developments," the Federal Ministry wrote. Germany had agreed to send 250 million euros earmarked as a part of development sanctions to Afghanistan this year. However, the ministry has revoked from disbursing "another cent" following the Taliban conquest of Kabul, a ministry spokesperson added.

Germany begins evacuation as the situation worsens in Kabul

Meanwhile, Muller in his statement made it crystal clear that the country is focussed on evacuating their nationals first from the war-torn country. "The priority now is to get all German aid personnel out of Afghanistan," Muller said in his statement. Several German NGO workers and embassy personnel are stuck in Kabul while the situation worsens under the Taliban regime. Muller ensured speeding up the evacuation process with the deployment of German forces. Nevertheless, as the situation deteriorated, the German military plane on Tuesday could take a flight with only seven evacuees onboard, Muller said during a press meet.

Image: AP/representative