Germany allows Taliban delegation to visit Munich

Germany has allowed a three-member Taliban delegation to enter the country, despite not recognising the regime, BR reported. The delegation is also due to visit Munich.

The delegation’s arrival at Afghanistan’s Consulate General in Grünwald, south of Munich, has prompted mixed reactions among Afghans seeking consular assistance. One man said he hoped representatives of the Foreign Ministry in Kabul would make the consulate’s work easier. A young woman said she had no trust in the Taliban and had always viewed the group with scepticism.

Former consul warns against cooperation

The Munich consulate already cooperates with the Taliban regime. Hamid Nangialay Kabiri, a former consul general in Bonn, refused to do so for a long time before resigning last year in protest against both the Taliban and the German government’s decision to allow Taliban diplomats into the country.

Kabiri sharply criticised the latest decision, referring to the 20-year deployment of German and other foreign troops in Afghanistan. “Why did they fight in our country for 20 years? Because of these terrorists. And now they are giving these terrorists diplomatic immunity. That is very dangerous,” he said.

He warned that the decision could endanger many Afghans in exile who oppose the regime. He also said it could potentially support Islamist groups in Germany that are prepared to carry out attacks.

Government points to consular services and deportations

The Federal Foreign Office has sought to play down the significance of the visit. It said Germany had an interest in ensuring that Afghan representations remained able to operate because more than 450,000 Afghan nationals in Germany needed consular services.

At a government press conference, a spokesperson said the visit was about creating the “technical requirements in the Afghan representations” so that, for example, labels could be printed in passports.

The technical issues also include establishing contacts for the deportation of Afghans required to leave Germany, particularly convicted criminals. The governing coalition of the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats has included this goal in its coalition agreement.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann of the CSU supports Berlin’s contacts with Kabul. Agreements with the Taliban government were essential, he said, because Germany could only put people on flights to Afghanistan with the agreement of the receiving country. He welcomed the Federal Interior Ministry’s talks with representatives of the Taliban government.

Refugee organisation ProAsyl criticised the position. Its managing director, Karl Kopp, told the Catholic News Agency that it was fatal for Germany to continue normalising relations with the internationally ostracised Taliban regime. “Anyone who seriously wants to fight Islamism must not make this regime a partner in its deportation policy,” he said.

Afghanistan veterans also criticise visit

Former Bundeswehr personnel who served in Afghanistan have also criticised the delegation’s visit. A former senior non-commissioned officer who was injured in a Taliban suicide attack returned his Afghanistan service medal in protest.

Christian Gerstner, from the Upper Palatinate region, who served in Afghanistan seven times, said he also had an uneasy feeling about the visit. He would not go so far as to return certificates or service memorabilia, he said, but it was “a slap in the face for every Afghanistan veteran” to see what was effectively the enemy being honoured in Germany.