The first of several German military planes to arrive in Kabul was able to evacuate only seven people, a foreign policy spokesman in Chancellor Angela Merkel's party said, due to chaos at the Afghan capital's airport.
The main mission of the A400M military transport plane, in what Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer described as a "breakneck landing", was to bring in German soldiers to organise and secure the evacuation.
"We have a very chaotic, dangerous and complex situation at the airport," she told broadcaster ARD.
"..We had very little time, so we only took on board people who were on site. Due to the chaotic situation not many were able to be at the airport."
Seven people made it on board the aircraft, conservative CDU/CSU parliamentary group foreign policy spokesman Johann Wadephul told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.