German media have reported that a three-member Taliban delegation secretly arrived in Berlin on Wednesday. Germany’s Foreign Ministry has also confirmed the delegation’s presence, saying that the visit is linked to preparations for carrying out further deportations of Afghan nationals.
According to reports, the Taliban delegation travelled from Kabul to Doha before obtaining 30-day visas from the German mission in Qatar and then travelling on to Berlin. So far, no detailed information has been released about the identities or positions of the delegation members.
German broadcaster NDR has reported that the delegation is expected to visit the Afghan consulates in Bonn and Munich next week. According to the same report, the delegation is currently staying at the Afghan Embassy in Berlin’s Grunewald district and is expected to remain in Germany for around three weeks.
The main purpose of the mission is reportedly to provide the necessary documentation and establish the technical prerequisites required to accelerate the deportation process for Afghan nationals. Germany’s Foreign Ministry said that, in order to establish these prerequisites quickly, a “technical support team” has also been sent to Germany for a short period.
This is not the first time that Taliban representatives have entered Germany to carry out consular activities. Last year, two Taliban consular officials also travelled to the country. According to information obtained by NDR, one of these officials is now effectively in charge of the Afghan Embassy in Berlin, while the other is responsible for the Afghan Consulate in Bonn.
The German government has said that the role of these officials is to provide consular services to Afghan citizens living abroad and facilitate the deportation of Afghan nationals an objective also included in the coalition agreement of the German government.
However, an NDR investigation indicates that, alongside their official duties, the two Taliban officials have also taken on other responsibilities, including sidelining Afghan diplomats appointed by the previous government and steering Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions in Germany towards the Taliban’s foreign-policy agenda.
According to the investigation, they have also been tasked with ensuring that revenues generated by the Afghan Embassy in Berlin and the country’s consulates in Bonn and Munich particularly income from the issuance of passports and official documents are transferred to Afghanistan despite financial restrictions and sanctions.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
