The flight from Doha took off at 3:30 a.m. in the middle of the night. On board the Qatari plane: the Afghanistan representative of the Foreign Office, Jasper Wieck, his Dutch colleague Emiel de Bont and the designated German ambassador to Afghanistan, Markus Potzel. It is the first time that German diplomats have returned to Afghanistan’s capital since Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban in August.
There is no talk of reopening the embassy there. But the federal government does not want to tear the thread of conversation to the new rulers. There is great concern in Berlin about an impending famine in the upcoming winter. And the possibilities of getting German citizens, former local employees from German positions and other particularly endangered Afghans out of the country depend on the willingness of the Taliban to cooperate. Several hundred people have been able to leave the country in the past few weeks and have received visas for Germany.
The delegation therefore held talks with a number of high-ranking representatives of the internationally unrecognized Taliban regime, among them Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Head of the Intelligence Service Abdul Haq Wasiq. The visitors received promises from the Taliban for safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid organizations, including their employees.
Girls should be allowed to go to school
In addition to providing purely humanitarian aid, the diplomats expressed their willingness to pay salaries for teachers and employees in the health system directly to their accounts through international organizations – this is to prevent the Taliban from gaining control over this money. In return, the Taliban assured that girls could continue to attend primary and secondary schools up to grade 12. Teachers should be allowed to teach at all grade levels and the curricula should not be changed from those of the defunct republic.
During the seven-hour stay, the Taliban even arranged talks with former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, who was the head of operations before the government was overthrown – but so far they have not given in to calls for an inclusive government.