Germany and the Taliban – Part 2: From Denial to Direct Engagement
However, this level of interference is not without
precedent, as Germany has a longstanding tradition of supporting Pashtun
political leaders, a phenomenon that will be explored in greater detail below.
Following
the Taliban's ousting in December 2001, Germany hosted a pivotal meeting
involving various Afghan and international political factions to discuss
Afghanistan's future. This gathering, known as the InternationalConference on Afghanistan or the Bonn Conference, aimed to shape the country's
political trajectory for years to come. The conference ultimately led to the
selection of Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun figure widely seen as a proxy leader, as
the president of Afghanistan. He was later succeeded by another Pashtun leader,
Ashraf Ghani, in 2014. Notably, the conference elevated to power many of the
same politicians who had previously aligned themselves with the Taliban, while
marginalizing those Afghans who had actually played a key role in toppling the
Taliban regime.
On May 25,
2011, the international edition of the German magazine Der Spiegel published an
article revealing that the German government was facilitating clandestine
negotiations between the US government and Taliban representatives, which were
taking place on German territory.
The meeting
in question occurred during the concurrent administrations of German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama. As noted in the article, the
gathering brought together representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) and the Taliban.
"On the American side, representatives of the State Department and the CIA are taking part. At this stage, it is mid-ranking officials from the Obama administration who are involved (…) The key figure on the Afghan side is described on the list of negotiators as a "relative" of Taliban leader Mullah Omar. This appears to refer to Tayyab Agha, a man in his mid-30s with a long, thin beard, who used to work as office manager for Mullah Omar when he was the so-called emir of Afghanistan. Today, Agha is something along the lines of Mullah Omar's personal spokesman.", Spiegel wrote.
This report
by Spiegel indicates that even back then Germany was actively advocating for
the Taliban, with the German Foreign Ministry expressing hopes that the group
would renounce violence, acknowledge the Afghan constitution, and sever ties
with al-Qaida. Thomas Ruttig, a researcher at the Afghanistan Analysts Network,
was quoted as saying that the latter goal was not entirely unrealistic.
However, it
is now widely acknowledged that the Taliban has no intention of abandoning its
terrorist activities, despite facing international pressure.
In the same
Spiegel article, Thomas Ruttig is quoted as downplaying the Taliban's extremist
ideology, stating that the group's leaders claim their agenda is limited to
regional interests and that, unlike al-Qaida, they do not aspire to establish a
global caliphate, citing the example that they do not aim to create an emirate
in Washington.
On August
15-31, 2021, the Taliban ultimately regained control of Afghanistan.
Subsequently, the German newspaper Die Welt revealed that the Merkel
administration had maintained contacts with Taliban leaders before, during, and
after the group's takeover of Afghanistan. This suggests that the Taliban's
confidence and motivation may have been bolstered by the support of foreign
countries.
Period: August 31, 2021 - February 2025 (Taliban rule over Afghanistan)
From the end of August 2021 until early 2025, the German federal government appeared to contribute indirectly to stabilising the Taliban regime through several political and humanitarian measures. These actions are outlined below.
Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, Germany launched multiple relocation and admission programmes for Afghans classified as “particularly at risk.” According to media reports, between 2022 and 2025 the German Foreign Office facilitated the transfer of approximately 24,000 people from Pakistan to Germany. Many of these individuals were brought to Germany via charter flights.
On 25 February 2025, the newspaper Welt followed up on earlier reports, noting that another charter flight carrying more than 150 Afghans had arrived in Germany. The article stated that, since August 2021, Germany had pledged to admit more than 48,000 Afghans, of whom nearly 36,000 had already been relocated, having been classified by the federal government as particularly at risk. According to Welt, the total cost of these relocations had already reached several hundred million euros, far exceeding earlier official estimates in the double-digit million range.
Welt further reported that these charter flights departed from Pakistan, where security-related talks were also taking place.
Concerns have been raised in parts of the media and public debate regarding insufficient identity checks. Some reports claim that individuals transferred to Germany stated they were born in Kabul, while others alleged that a number of passengers might not be Afghan citizens at all but Pakistani nationals. This argument is often linked to the fact that Pakistan has a large Pashtun population, and that many Afghan refugees in Pakistan are also Pashtuns.
The Taliban are widely described as a movement dominated by Pashtuns, and concerns have been raised that ethnic and ideological overlaps could pose security risks. In public debates, isolated violent crimes in Germany are sometimes cited in this context, particularly when perpetrators are reported to have a Pashtun background.
At the same time, Germany has reportedly maintained indirect, and later direct, contacts with the Taliban, while opponents of the Taliban within the Afghan diaspora feel excluded from these processes. This is widely described as contradictory: maintaining contacts with the regime on the one hand, while presenting evacuation flights as purely humanitarian on the other.
Images of Afghan refugees transported in Bundeswehr aircraft have been interpreted by some observers as an attempt to showcase Germany’s humanitarian role, while others accuse the government of politicising vulnerable people.
On 2 March 2025, Bild reported that another charter flight from Pakistan carrying Afghan migrants was scheduled to land in Berlin on 5 March 2025. This would be the second such flight after the federal election, despite the electoral defeat of the SPD–Green governing coalition, which remained in office in a caretaker role.
creating political and administrative difficulties for a future government,
supplying low-paid labour for sectors with staff shortages,
or acting out of political frustration after electoral losses.
The Bild article also questioned whether the identities and nationalities of the passengers had been fully verified.
The flight was expected to arrive in Berlin, where asylum infrastructure is already under severe strain. According to a Welt article from March 2, 2025, thousands of asylum seekers in Berlin are housed in emergency accommodation, including tent cities and overcrowded facilities with up to 18 people sharing one room. On the same day, Welt referred to the charter flights from Pakistan as “state-organised madness.”
Continuation under the Merz government
According to further media reports, the German government under Chancellor Merz continued relocating several hundred people from Pakistan to Germany in December 2025 alone. The nationality of some of these individuals has been questioned in previous public debates.
This policy has been pursued despite rising living costs, increasing unemployment, and a severe housing shortage in Germany, as widely reported by German media.
Germany's agenda remains unclear. The Merz government could have used German taxpayers’ money to fund housing projects or cut income taxes to boost the economy and improve citizens’ wealth. Instead, it spends these resources on the welfare system by bringing in migrants from around the world.
At the same time, the far-right AfD has gained significant electoral support. The AfD is widely known for its strongly anti-Afghan and anti-immigration stance.
In parts of the public debate, these developments are placed within a broader interpretative framework that refers to influential networks or “states within states” affecting government decisions. From this perspective, citizens are insufficiently consulted on migration policies, particularly regarding the number and origin of incoming migrants.
In this context, Switzerland is often cited as a counterexample. Due to its system of referendums and direct democracy, Switzerland has not implemented comparable admission programmes for Afghans from Pakistan. The country has no formal relations with the Taliban and maintains a restrictive migration policy that reflects public preferences. Of twenty convicted Afghan nationals, only two have been deported since the Taliban took power in 2021.
Opponents of Germany’s current approach argue that such policies contribute to social tension and instability rather than cohesion and describe them as deliberately sowing political and social chaos.
It should be noted that no Afghans were reported to have been brought from Iran or Tajikistan via such flights, as all transfers occurred from Pakistan. This raises the possibility that the German government is prioritising the relocation of Pashtuns rather than Persian-speaking Afghans who predominantly reside in Tajikistan and Iran.
The broader pattern, critics contend, fits into a global context where Sunni populations are increasingly prioritised and gain greater influence economically, politically, and territorially in regions such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the Gulf States, Turkey, and now Afghanistan. In this perspective, Germany’s relocation focus may reflect an alignment with these geopolitical shifts rather than strictly humanitarian aims, which fuels debate over the government’s transparency and strategic intent.
-On 22 February 2025 German tabloid paper published how Tino Chrupalla, co-chairman of the far-right party AfD intended to visit the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle in September 2021, Chrupalla claimed that “99 percent of Afghans” were “satisfied with the Taliban’s seizure of power.”. He demanded the recognition the Taliban regime by Germany.
It seems that far-right politicians in the West are in favor of the Taliban. At the end of 2023 Herbert F. a famous Austrian right-wing extremist flew to Afghanistan, despite a travel warning, to prove that the country was safe. Herbert F. was kidnapped there by the Taliban and spent nine months in a Taliban prison facing the death penalty. He was only released through Qatar's mediation.
On 23 February 2025 BBC reported that British couple Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, has been arrested two weeks ago by the Taliban in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. The number of captives by the Taliban is on the rise. The reason is likely to get as many hostages as possible in order to blackmail governments to give them money.
But there are also those from the "humanitarian" side lobbying for the Taliban, among them Ralf Stegner from the SPD party, and former German army colonel Reinhard Erös who has been running the Kinderhilfe Afghanistan since 1998, which builds and maintains schools, orphanages and training centers in the country's eastern provinces.
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