According to a recent media report, a flight from Pakistan is expected to arrive in the Federal Republic of Germany next Wednesday, carrying 157 Afghans, according to the Foreign Office-chartered aircraft. However, only two local officials with 13 of their family members, who had been granted special protection by the German government, are among the passengers arriving in Germany.
The two local officials, one of whom worked for the German Federal Ministry of Defence and the other for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, had been previously selected for the government’s special protection program. The remaining 142 individuals, on the other hand, are from other “intake lines” including those from the “special intake program” for “particularly endangered people” such as those who had actively supported democracy in Afghanistan.
The government has allocated 25 million euros for the special intake program in this legislative period and around 36,000 individuals have already been admitted to Germany under the program.
A government official, responsible for various programs for Afghan refugees, expressed significant doubts about the identity and, consequently, the need for protection of many of the Afghans selected for the flight to Germany:
“The selection of the individuals is completely unclear and the identity in many cases is questionable or even entirely unknown.”
The official provided an example of a nine-member family, whose birthdates in their documents were allegedly entered “completely randomly by the Afghan authorities.” Additionally, a couple, who had registered as a married pair, presented what they claimed was an official marriage certificate as proof. However, the document was later found to be a forgery. The Foreign Office, instead of requiring a valid marriage certificate, accepted a chronologically ordered photo collection, which was supposed to demonstrate the couple’s de facto marriage.