Taliban pressures Germany for more diplomatic control

In late July, the Taliban publicly announced that it only recognized five Afghan diplomatic missions in Europe as legitimate: its embassies in the Netherlands, Spain, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, as well as a consulate — in Munich.

"These diplomatic missions follow Afghanistan's orders and represent the country abroad. We have confidence in their work and these activities are carried out transparently," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an interview with DW. "They are accountable and carry out our orders," he added.

To be clear: most of Afghanistan's diplomatic representatives in Europe distanced themselves from the Taliban after they took back power in 2021. They no longer received financing from Kabul, nor did they send regular reports back to the Taliban's Foreign Affairs Ministry. Still, for the last three years, the Taliban did not object to the operations by Afghanistan diplomatic missions and allowed them to carry out consular duties such as extending passports, visas and other documents to the roughly 420,000 Afghans living in Germany.

The Taliban have withdrawn their recognition of Afghanistan's embassy in Berlin and consulate in Bonn, both of which were unwilling to cooperate with them. Therefore, these missions can no longer issue documents which are valid in Afghanistan, losing their largest source of income and making their diplomatic status less certain than ever.

Business at the Munich consulate, however, which appears to directly follow Kabul's orders, is booming. No Afghan diplomats in Berlin or Munich were willing to speak with DW about the situation. 

The Foreign Ministry in Berlin reacted to the Taliban's decision to restrict consular activity to Munich with a "formal notification" addressed to the "acting Foreign Ministry" in Kabul. Berlin has spoken of "technical discussions" with Afghanistan's de facto government. DW is in possession of a copy of the document in question. According to the paper, the German Foreign Ministry has accepted the fact that Afghanistan's mission in Munich has now taken over all consular responsibility for Afghans in Germany.

According to international humanitarian law there is little Berlin can do about the Taliban's decision, said Winfried Kluth, a law professor at Germany's University of Halle-Wittenberg. Kluth told DW the fact that Germany has not protested is an "expression of political pragmatism," adding, "Germany's interest is to ensure that there remains a consulate where certain things are still possible, for instance, the issuance of visas and passports for deportations."

The only point in which Berlin has so far contradicted Kabul is in the Taliban's insistence that the Munich consulate will not only provide services to Afghans in Germany but Afghan citizens across the whole of Europe. Berlin explained that such a move would be in violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Ultimately, Berlin's objections are merely symbolic, as no one in the government has any way of keeping track of whether Afghans appearing at the Munich consulate are from Germany or elsewhere.

Afghan diaspora fears increased pressure from Taliban

Striking a diplomatic tone in the document seen by DW, the German Foreign Ministry signaled it is ready to discuss possible solutions: "The Federal Republic of Germany is ready to consider ways that would allow for the satisfactory provision of consular services to Afghan nationals residing in Germany."

That has sparked fear in the Afghan community. "The entire diaspora has family in Afghanistan," said Afghan social activist Patoni Teichmann. "If the Taliban gains access to personal information from the embassies it will make it easier to put pressure on people."

Alema Alema, a women's rights activist and Afghanistan's former deputy minister for refugee affairs, also sees the possibility that the Taliban may demand an embassy in Germany in return for accepting deported Afghans. "We have to remain vigilant over the coming days in order to avoid getting overrun."

The Taliban could very well try sending their own people to the diplomatic missions in Germany. At a time when the German government is pushing for more deportations to Afghanistan, this would put pressure on Berlin. The Foreign Ministry told DW: "The prerequisite for a normalization of relations is for Afghanistan to uphold its international obligations, especially upholding international human rights obligations. So far, those prerequisites have not been fulfilled."

Technical discussions, or steps toward normalization?

The fact that Berlin is conducting "technical discussions" with the de facto government in Kabul has increasingly come up in public statements. As the German Embassy in Kabul has remained shuttered since the Taliban took back power in 2021 and Berlin no longer has diplomatic representation in the country, all such statements have been made below the political level — "especially through the contact office we established in Doha in order to maintain communications with representatives for the de facto government who are present there," as a speaker for Berlin's Foreign Ministry said during a recent government conference.

When it comes to more pressing political issues, such as the recent deportation of criminal Afghans from Leipzig to Kabul in late August, the German government said it had bypassed technical discussions, opting instead to rely on mediating countries like Qatar for assistance. 

All the more astonishing is the fact that the "formal notification" delivered to the Taliban and seen by DW was printed on letterhead marked "Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Kabul." The correspondence also bore a German-language stamp reading, "Botschaft der Republik Deutschland Kabul" [Embassy of the Republic of Germany Kabul].  

Legal scholar Kluth sees this decision as a kind of "gray zone," possibly even "an effort to obfuscate."

"It contradicts the legal facts and it is difficult to tell what the author was thinking," he said. Germany's Foreign Ministry did not want to comment on the matter.

Afghanistan expert Thomas Ruttig told DW the Taliban is selling the fact that Germany is conducting technical discussions as "an important step toward diplomatic recognition." He added that "the German side will attempt to downplay such claims, but of course, in light of current talks about deportations to Afghanistan, they are interested in them."

That has prompted the Afghan community in Germany to call for a demonstration in Berlin. Police rejected an application for such an event on September 1, but now Afghans hope to stage a protest on September 11.

This article was originally written in German and translated by Jon Shelton.