Status: 04.11.2021 9:10 a.m.
Persecution, violence, death: since the Taliban came to power, Afghans have had to fear for their lives, according to a report by the Foreign Office. However, the local situation is “difficult to verify”.
In Afghanistan, since the militant Islamist Taliban came to power, the population has faced oppression, death and persecution. This is the conclusion reached in the current “Report on the Situation in Afghanistan” by the Federal Foreign Office.
In particular, people in cities and former government employees and security forces are experiencing a “massive curtailment of their fundamental rights and freedoms” and must fear retaliation. There have been reports of house searches, arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances and executions, particularly against these groups and against political opponents of the Taliban and representatives of civil society and their families.
However, the Federal Foreign Office also admits problems with the sources of the report. Because the authors can no longer rely on their own information because the German embassy was closed when the Taliban came to power in mid-August, as were representations from other countries.
Information “difficult to verify”
The information therefore comes from human rights groups, international organizations and media reports, among others. Information is “difficult to verify”, there is “no well-founded knowledge”, it says in many places in the paper.
This applies, for example, to reports of human rights violations such as house searches, arbitrary acts and shootings. It is unclear whether there are “targeted, large-scale retaliatory measures” against employees of the previous government or security forces. On the other hand, there are good examples of the Taliban’s tough crackdown on demonstrators, including the use of live ammunition against peaceful people.
In addition, the rights of women and girls are restricted by the Taliban, how and to what extent, but that depends on local and individual circumstances. Systematic state torture is not yet known, but there are reports of individual cases, such as journalists – whereby foreign reporters can travel largely unhindered. It is said that there are no current findings about how returnees from Germany and Europe are doing.
Reopening of the German embassy questionable
Not only German diplomats find it difficult to make clear assessments. For many observers, the sources have become more opaque since the Taliban came to power. Official positions are often still vacant or do not provide reliable information. Afghans in the country are holding back criticism, and the media are increasingly exercising self-censorship for fear of reprisals. A lot of fake news circulates on social media.
It is not to be expected that the information situation from the Federal Foreign Office will soon improve. A reopening of the German embassy in Kabul is not in sight – because of the precarious security situation. The German ambassador Markus Potzel, who was supposed to be sent to Kabul in August, is instead stationed in the Gulf emirate of Qatar and from there he maintains contact with the Taliban.
Report has no influence on asylum decisions
The Federal Foreign Office prepares regular reports on the situation in important countries of origin of asylum seekers in Germany. These are primarily intended to serve the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf), but also courts and interior authorities, as a decision-making aid for asylum decisions and deportations. However, the Foreign Office makes it clear: The report, which is around a dozen pages long, is not a regular asylum situation report, but a “snapshot”.
What is unusual about it is that the report – in contrast to previous reports on other countries – is initially not intended to have any influence on the decision-making practice of the Bamf. According to a spokesman, the authority is still waiting for guidelines to be drawn up by the European Asylum Support Office (Easo) and to ensure “a pan-European approach”.
Thousands are still waiting to leave
With the escalation in the country, many Afghans had new hopes for protection in Germany. At the beginning of October, almost 25,000 people with admission permits were still on the federal government’s exit list, including 17,800 former local members of the armed forces or federal ministries, including their family members.
Since the end of the Bundeswehr airlift a good two months ago, however, the evacuation has progressed only slowly. Since August 16, a total of almost 6,000 Afghans have been brought in – including those flown out by the Bundeswehr.