1. N-TV had a report this morning that Chancellor Merkel will have a phone-chat with President Biden shortly.....asking for US military help in getting some Afghans out of Afghanistan.
2. The 'maintenance-hog' A400M transport aircraft that the Bundeswehr is operating in the rescue effort? Well....yeah, it broke down. A replacement plane has been sent, with parts for the broke plane. I doubt if anyone is that shocked within the German Air Force.
3. This chatter from the EU about a master-plan for evacuation (bringing high numbers of Afghans out)? Austria stood up and said it's not going to be fully accepted. I don't think anyone is really surprised, and without total acceptance within the EU block of countries....the idea will just stop right there. I would suggest trust is lacking in terms of how far this idea would go, and the numbers in the mix.
4. Some finger-pointing by the Defense Minister (AKK) at the German Foreign Ministry? Well....this goes to a paperwork 'drill' where the German military was prepared to go in early, and remove Afghan workers (formerly via the embassy and various agencies). The Afghans needed visas rigged up and the Foreign Ministry couldn't speed up the process. Lot of bitterness over how this was handled under Maas's crew at the Foreign Ministry.
5. Lot of video used as Afghans and Germans arrived back in Germany by both ARD and ZDF (public TV in Germany). They must have interviewed forty-odd people in the arrival-hall.
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