In EU first, Germany to allow Taliban officials to work at Afghan missions
This move follows a push from Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt for direct talks with the radical Islamist Taliban to facilitate regular deportations of rejected asylum seekers and convicted offenders to Afghanistan.
Such flights had been largely halted due to diplomatic and human rights concerns after the militia toppled the Western-backed government in 2021. But Germany resumed deportations to Afghanistan on Friday – only the second such flight since 2021.
As part of this arrangement, mediated by Qatar, the German government has approved the deployment of two Afghan consular officers to Germany, it confirmed on Monday.
The officials would "support further planned deportation flights", said government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius.
Berlin has insisted that this did not constitute recognition of the Taliban, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which first reported the decision on Friday.
Russia is currently the only country to have officially recognised the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate government, following an announcement three weeks ago.
Still, Germany's decision marks a significant policy shift, as the newly elected government has pledged to crack down on illegal migration after a series of violent attacks linked to rejected asylum-seekers earlier this year. It also led a group of EU interior ministers, who called for regular deportations to Afghanistan and Syria at a dedicated migration summit on Friday.
Norway, a non-EU member, is so far the only European country to have accepted an acting Taliban envoy, however.
Germany maintains no formal diplomatic ties with the Taliban, with the German government saying there was only strictly technical cooperation on a regular basis.
The two Afghan officials have previously worked for the Western-backed government and had no known history of extremism, according to the FAZ .
They could arrive "soon" and would be based at the Afghan embassy in Berlin and the consulate in Bonn, without holding formal diplomatic rank.
(aw)
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