Welcoming the Taliban? Germany's new Afghanistan policy

Just under a year ago, Hamid Nangialay Kabiri found himself caught up in a difficult situation: having worked at the Afghan Consulate General in Bonn for six years, most recently as its head, he decided to step down in September 2025 rather than comply with the German government's demand that he cooperate with Taliban representatives.

"I said: 'I'm sorry, but I can't do that. They are terrorists. I grew up under their government in Afghanistan, and I watched many of my classmates being killed. I cannot accept them as colleagues,'" he told DW.

Just nine months later, it has become reality: both the Afghan Consulate General in Bonn and the embassy in Berlin are now headed by Taliban representatives. Four more diplomats are expected to arrive in Germany, the federal government has confirmed.

Meanwhile, Kabiri, who steadfastly refused to cooperate with the Islamist group, now does not leave his apartment on his own, out of concern for his safety. He has also been forced to apply for asylum so he can remain in Germany.

"I lost my first homeland, Afghanistan, and I do not want to lose my second home, Germany, because I truly feel at home here," he said. "In the past, anyone applying for asylum was subjected to intense scrutiny to ensure they had not cooperated with the Taliban. Now I may have to leave the country because I refused to cooperate with them. That's a double standard."

More deportations to Afghanistan

The German government is determined to increase deportations to Afghanistan, with Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the centre-right Christian Social Union (CSU) proposing three charter flights per month, supplemented by individual deportations on scheduled commercial services.

To facilitate those returns, Berlin is opening channels of communication with a regime German troops joined a war against for nearly two decades. Fifty-nine German soldiers lost their lives on that mission, and Germany still does not officially recognise the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.

In response to DW's inquiry, the German Interior Ministry said: "By accepting returns from Germany, Afghanistan's de facto government is fulfilling its obligation under customary international law to readmit its own nationals. At the same time, the functioning of Afghanistan's diplomatic missions in Germany is a prerequisite for issuing replacement travel documents required for deportations."

Chancellor Friedrich Merz, of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), recently told a parliamentary question session: "We are not extending a hand to the Taliban regime."

He added, however, that Germany was seeking cooperation with the Taliban "at the necessary technical level" where doing so served the country's interests, particularly in relation to the deportation of criminals. Merz also expressed his "full and unequivocal support" for Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt's handling of the matter.

Taliban suppression of women and girls

Refugee organisations are critical. "The decision to accept Taliban representatives at Afghan diplomatic missions in Germany marks a new phase in relations between Germany and the Taliban," Helen Rezene, executive director of the NGO Pro Asyl, told DW. "It grants greater legitimacy to a repressive regime that violates fundamental human rights, excludes women and girls from education, employment and public life, and systematically deprives them of their rights."

"My first thought was that Germany had opened the door to these talks," Rezene said. "From our perspective, the debate in recent months over normalising relations with the Taliban, the replacement of embassy personnel in Bonn and Berlin, and the deportations to Afghanistan are clear indications that Germany helped pave the way for this. The fact that developments have progressed to the point where Taliban representatives are being invited to and included in talks suggests that these contacts are becoming increasingly institutionalised."

Are the Taliban using deportation flights as leverage?

Rezene fears that giving the Taliban an inch will allow the regime to take a mile, and her concerns may be well founded. According to recent reporting by public broadcaster NDR, the Taliban authorities cancelled a deportation flight to Kabul even though the German federal police officers assigned to escort the deportees had already been issued visas. The Afghan Foreign Ministry reportedly justified the decision by saying that it did not have enough diplomatic staff in Germany.

"Alexander Dobrindt is pursuing an extremely hardline policy, and in doing so is cooperating with a regime that violates fundamental human rights standards and strategically exploits every new dependency," said Rezene. "What the interior minister is doing is short-sighted: the Taliban will not be satisfied with limited deportation arrangements but will use every dependency to extract further political concessions."

Afghans must report to the very authorities they fled

Kabiri, too, believes the Taliban will exploit their leverage and continue to obstruct deportations whenever their demands are not met. He insists that his voice will never be silenced.

"When people flee the Taliban and are then compelled to submit documents to them, it becomes easy to track down those living in Germany," he warned. "The Taliban can also easily identify and locate their families in Afghanistan. Who are their parents? Which province do they live in? Which village?"