Germany takes in "several hundred" Afghans after troop withdrawal

As part of Germany's troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Berlin has taken in "several hundred" local Afghans who worked alongside the country's forces, a Defence Ministry spokesman said on Friday.

"We will help those - and are helping them already - who helped us ... and we know the responsibility we have for these people," added German government spokesman Steffen Seibert. Not all details can be made public, "but there is certainly a lot going on," he added.

Travel documents have been issued for 446 local hires, such as translators and their families, the Defence Ministry said this week.

These are, in many cases, people whose lives could be in danger once they are not protected by international troops, especially now when the Taliban are taking over some provinces at high speed.

"Where there is a concrete and urgent wish to leave the country, the government will try to make that possible," Seibert said, for example if people were in acute danger.

Pay for their own flights

Janine Wissler, a party leader of Germany's hard-left Die Linke, accused the government on Friday of abandoning local Afghans.

It was utterly incomprehensible why they had not been flown back to Germany with the troops, she said, adding that instead they had to book and pay for their own flights.