Germany says engagement with Taliban necessary but condemns human rights abuses

Germany’s envoy to the UN reiterated her country’s support for international engagement with the Taliban as part of a UN-led political process, but warned that systematic human rights violations—particularly against women and girls—continue to set Afghanistan apart as a global outlier.

“There is no alternative to engagement with the Taliban,” Germany’s ambassador to the United Nations, Antje Leendertse, told the General Assembly on Monday, as member states gathered for a special session on Afghanistan. “We will continue to actively contribute to the UN-led Doha process.”

Leendertse said Germany backs the UN working group structure established under the Doha process and remains open to “pragmatic forms of cooperation with the de facto authorities (Taliban),” including discussions on the safe return of Afghan refugees. She also welcomed the UN Secretariat’s efforts to develop a “substantial political roadmap for Afghanistan.”

Still, Leendertse emphasized that Germany remains “gravely concerned” about the deteriorating human rights conditions in the country, citing “edicts imposed by the Taliban against women and girls” that she said amount to “a near-total erasure of their rights.”

“It is these systematic human rights violations that make the situation in Afghanistan different from that of any other country in the world,” she said.

Germany has provided more than $1 billion in humanitarian and basic needs assistance to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, according to Leendertse. She praised the work of UN agencies on the ground, including the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), for their “exhaustive and dangerous efforts” to support the Afghan people.

In her concluding remarks, Leendertse delivered a direct message to Afghans: “To the Afghan mother holding her sick and underfed child, we see you. To the mourning relatives of those who fall victim to another heinous attack of terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory, we hear you. And to the millions of Afghan women and girls locked up at home, we have not forgotten you.”

She urged member states to support the resolution before the Assembly and vote yes.