The Taliban have been sending officials to staff Afghan diplomatic missions in Germany, creating a dilemma for Afghans who fled the regime and now need passports or other documents, the Association of Afghan Organizations in Germany (VAFO) warned in January. VAFO said lack of valid passports prevents people from securing residency, extending employment contracts and completing basic administrative procedures, and that expecting passport matters to be handled through Taliban structures ignores the reality for many affected.
Berlin is also moving to increase deportations to Afghanistan, a push that critics say the Taliban are using to gain de facto diplomatic presence in Europe. The Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021 after NATO troops withdrew; Russia is the only country so far to have officially recognized the movement as Afghanistan’s legitimate government, though several states maintain pragmatic ties. The regime has been widely condemned for harsh Sharia enforcement and human rights abuses.
German Interior Ministry officials traveled to Afghanistan in 2025 to negotiate deportation procedures. The ministry says the Taliban agreed in principle to accept anyone proven to be an Afghan national. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told the Bundestag in mid-January that deportations began in December, starting with people with criminal records.
Some experts call the arrangement a concerning concession. Conrad Schetter, director of the Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC), described the move as a “dirty deal” because accrediting Taliban-appointed consular staff effectively recognizes them as legitimate Afghan representatives and gives them access to data on Afghan citizens in Germany — including many who fled because the Taliban threatened them for cooperating with foreign forces.
That has produced a “gray zone” at the Afghan embassy in Berlin and consulates in Bonn and Munich: some offices remain run by representatives of the former, NATO-backed government while others have been taken over by Taliban appointees. Schetter said the transfers were handled informally and quietly at first, and added that Germany appears to be a forerunner among European countries in allowing such access, in part because it hosts the continent’s largest Afghan diaspora and is leading efforts to step up deportations.
The German Foreign Ministry confirmed it has been accrediting new staff sent from Kabul. The move prompted protest from diplomats appointed by the previous Afghan government. In October, Hamid Nangialay Kabiri resigned as acting consul general in Bonn after Taliban members were accredited there. “I told them I can’t work with terrorists,” he told reporters. Left without income and fearing persecution if he returns to Afghanistan, Kabiri applied for asylum in Germany and has since avoided the consulate, saying he cannot risk providing information that could expose his relatives in Afghanistan to reprisals.
Civil-society groups are urging the German government to create safer bureaucratic channels for Afghans to obtain or renew identity documents without contact with Taliban representatives. Jeanette Höpping, a legal adviser at YAAR, a Berlin NGO supporting Afghans, said many clients now fear entering consulates. She noted that a special document — the so-called “gray passport” — had been available after the 2021 regime change for people for whom getting papers from their home country was too dangerous; that option has been closed for Afghans, who are now generally required to present an Afghan passport or taskira (ID card) to apply for residency.
Thomas Ruttig, former co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, argued Germany could have handled the issue differently and that accrediting Taliban officials was not the only option. He said the decision appears driven by a priority to enable large-scale deportations, giving the Taliban leverage to place their people in consulates.
Those who fled persecution now find themselves exposed to the very authorities they escaped. Kabiri called the situation absurd: after being granted asylum for fear of the Taliban, he asked, why would Germany now facilitate returning people to that regime? “Where is the logic?” he said.
Edited by: Rina Goldenberg