Germany’s leading newspapers and media organizations on Sunday urged Chancellor Angela Merkel to evacuate Afghan journalists from the country as the Taliban entered the country’s capital Kabul.
Various top outlets, including Der Spiegel, dpa International, Deutsche Welle and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, drafted an open letter addressing Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.
The letter urged the German government to create an emergency visa program to provide safety for Afghan journalists who had been serving German readers and viewers for over 20 years.
“This letter is a cry for help,” it said. “Our reporting, which provided the German public and politics with analysis, insights and impressions from the country, was inconceivable without the commitment and courage of the Afghan colleagues who supported us on site: The local journalists, stringers and translators.”
Afghan journalists, translators, interpreters and fixers have been providing invaluable information from the ground to foreign media organizations since the 2001 US-led invasion.
“The lives of these freelancers are now acutely at risk,” the letter continued. “According to international human rights organizations, there is hardly a country in the world in which journalists are now as vulnerable as in Afghanistan. We hereby call on you to set up an emergency visa program for Afghan workers of German media companies.”
The open letter comes after similar appeals from UK and US media organizations were issued to their respective governments.
Last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists drafted joint letters with numerous US media outlets to pressure Washington to provide humanitarian assistance and emergency visas to Afghans they have worked with.
After numerous appeals, the US State Department issued a decision to include Afghan journalists in its Refugee Admissions Program.
Similarly, Britain’s leading newspapers appealed to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to provide protection to media workers in Afghanistan under threat from the Taliban.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said that Afghan journalists who worked for the British media would be considered for relocation to the UK if they come under “imminent threat.”
The Taliban announced it entered Kabul on Sunday, which, experts say, will pose a threat to many Afghan journalists, particularly those known to have worked with Western outlets.