The propaganda speech by a Taliban official in Cologne continues to cause excitement. How did Abdul Bari Omar come to Germany? Why weren’t the authorities informed? In addition to outrage, there are now also answers.
How could a high-ranking Taliban official enter Germany and give a lecture in a Cologne mosque belonging to the Ditib umbrella organization? This question has been bothering the authorities since it became known that Abdul Bari Omar, the head of the Afghan food control authority, was able to praise the work of the Islamists in front of an audience of 70 people on Thursday.
After WDR information Omar entered the country with a Schengen visa issued by the Netherlands. In The Hague at the beginning of the month he took part in a conference of the World Health Organization (WHO). Dutch Health Minister Ernst Kuipers told X that it is now being investigated how this was possible.
Kuipers also had his photo taken with the Taliban representative at the conference. The photo had already been distributed on X a week and a half ago, but it only now became known in the Netherlands after the fuss surrounding the incident in Cologne. Kuipers regretted the photo together. He didn’t know who it was.
Authorities were apparently not informed about the appearance
According to its own statements, the Foreign Office was not informed about Omar’s subsequent visit to Germany and announced that it did not recognize the Taliban: “As long as the Taliban in Afghanistan blatantly trample on human rights, especially the rights of women and girls, there will be no normalization with the Taliban regime.” According to a spokesman, the Federal Ministry of the Interior also knew nothing about the appearance in Cologne in advance.
An Afghan activist points out to X that there are indications of further planned performances. She was unsettled by the authorities’ behavior and described it as unacceptable and shocking.
Ditib apologizes
Ditib, to which the mosque belongs, distanced itself from the appearance in the prayer house in the Chorweiler district on Thursday. A cultural association organized the event, which was announced as religious, and did not adhere to a contractual agreement.
Ditib first gave the name of the association as “Afghan Cultural Association Cologne Meschenich”. The club then declared that it was not involved in the event and that the club’s name had been used improperly. On Saturday evening, Ditib corrected its information. In fact, the hall was made available to people who were known to Ditib as the board of directors of the “Kulturverein der Kunar Jugend eV” and were acting on its behalf.
Ditib further stated that they sincerely regret the “significant damage” caused to the originally named club and once again distanced themselves from the event. “The Taliban’s inhumane, misogynistic and anti-freedom mental attitude cannot be legitimized in any way by our faith and as Muslims we resolutely oppose this interpretation.”
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Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had previously demanded clarification from the mosque association. “Nobody is allowed to offer radical Islamists a platform in Germany.” The Taliban are responsible for massive human rights violations, said Faeser. “In Germany we protect many refugees from Afghanistan from the oppressive rule of the Taliban. That’s why Taliban officials have absolutely no place in Germany.”
The domestic policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Alexander Throm, called it “unbearable” that a Taliban official “gives a lecture in Germany and can spread his inhumane ideology.” Ditib is also responsible for this. It is also “another indictment” for the federal government that the Taliban official was able to enter the country.
The Düsseldorf Interior Ministry referred to an assessment by the Federal Prosecutor General: According to this, the Taliban, with their seizure of power in Afghanistan and the formation of a government in September 2021, are no longer a criminal or terrorist organization “from this point on.”