Taliban Administration Halts Berlin Embassy Consular Services for Migrants
German media have reported that the Afghan embassy in Berlin has stopped accepting consular applications from Afghans living outside Germany for several weeks. As a result of the decision, Afghan migrants in Belgium, France, Switzerland and Austria, who had previously obtained passports and consular documents through Berlin, are facing administrative problems.
According to these reports, the suspension was carried out on direct orders from Kabul. In practice, the move has disrupted access for some Afghans living in Europe to basic consular services and made their legal status more complicated.
Nazifullah Salarzai, the ambassador of Afghanistan’s previous government in Belgium, confirmed the worsening consular difficulties faced by migrants and said that missions linked to the former structure have no connection with the Taliban administration’s foreign ministry directives. According to him, the Taliban administration’s unilateral decisions have increased Afghans’ legal problems.
Experts and former Afghan diplomats have assessed this approach as an attempt to exert pressure simultaneously on migrants and European capitals. In their view, the aim of this pressure is to force European Union member states to accept diplomats appointed by Kabul and hand over embassies to the Taliban administration.
The roots of this dispute date back to August 2024, when the Taliban administration’s foreign ministry said documents issued by a number of Afghan political missions in Europe, including in Britain, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Austria, were not valid. The Taliban administration had also made the provision of consular services conditional on the acceptance of newly dispatched representatives from Kabul.
In Germany, however, the process unfolded differently. After the end of the previous diplomats’ mission in Berlin and Bonn, the German government agreed to the limited technical acceptance of two consular representatives, but stressed that this did not amount to political recognition of the Taliban administration.
According to the report, the issue of consular services and the return of asylum seekers has also become linked in recent months in the Taliban administration’s talks with European officials. The Taliban administration has repeatedly claimed that full cooperation on deporting undocumented migrants and improving consular services depends on the formal deployment of its nominated representatives in European capitals.
In recent years, the Afghan embassy in Berlin has been one of the main centres for some Afghans living in Europe, especially in countries neighbouring Germany, to obtain consular documents. For this reason, the suspension of these services could have a direct impact on migrants’ daily needs, from passport renewals to the preparation of official documents.
