Taliban pressures Germany for more diplomatic control

Taliban pressures Germany for more diplomatic control

At a time when Berlin is calling for increased deportations to Afghanistan, the Taliban is attempting to exert more control over Kabul’s diplomatic mission in Germany. Berlin has apparently accepted the move.

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The Taliban have withdrawn their recognition of Afghanistan’s embassy in Berlin and consulate in Bonn, both of which were unwilling to cooperate with them.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.