Status: 18.11.2023, 18:03 PM
By: Victoria Krumbeck
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In Cologne, a Taliban official appeared at an event. Previously, he participated in a WHO conference. Interior Minister Faeser is now calling for clarification.
Berlin/Cologne – The excitement is great: On Thursday (16 November), a high-ranking Afghan official of the Taliban gave a speech in a mosque of the German-Turkish Ditib in Cologne. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser has strongly criticized the appearance and demanded clarification. The umbrella organization Ditib has distanced itself from the appearance in the house of prayer in the Chorweiler district. The event was organised by a cultural association that had rented the premises of Ditib for the performance. The official also caused a stir in the Netherlands at a WHO meeting.
Taliban appearance in Cologne – Faeser calls for clarification: "Completely unacceptable"
"The appearance of the Taliban representative in Cologne is completely unacceptable and must be sharply condemned," the SPD politician told the German Press Agency (dpa) in Berlin on Saturday. "No one should be allowed to give radical Islamists a stage in Germany." The Taliban are responsible for massive human rights violations, Faeser continued. Two years ago, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan and have been oppressing women in particular ever since.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser criticizes the appearance of a Taliban official in Cologne. © Photomontage Kay Nietfeld/dpa/X/@Afghanistan Times
"In Germany, we protect many refugees from Afghanistan from the Taliban's reign of oppression. That's why Taliban officials have absolutely no place in Germany." The competent authorities investigated the case intensively. From the umbrella organization Ditib, one expects "a complete and very quick clarification as to how the appearance in Cologne could have come about".
Ditib distances itself from the TalibanAppearance: Violation of "contractual agreement"
Ditib explained in a press release that a cultural association had organized the event, which was announced as religious, and did not adhere to a contractual agreement. "This is in breach of our contractual agreement and constitutes trespassing. We will not tolerate this and will ban the association from entering the building," Ditib said. The "Afghan Cultural Association Cologne Meschenich" itself stated that it had not been involved in the rental of the event space, nor had any members of the association been present. Among other things, charges had been filed for damage to reputation.
According to a spokesman, the Federal Ministry of the Interior had no prior knowledge of the performance. One has taken note of the public statements of the Ditib on this and will press for further clarification there, he told the dpa. "Everything else in connection with the performance is the subject of ongoing investigations."
Taliban official at WHO conference – photo causes a stir in the Netherlands
The Taliban official was Abdul Bari Omar, head of Afghanistan's food control agency. Omar also attended a World Health Organization (WHO) conference held in The Hague from 6 to 8 November. It is now being investigated how this was possible, Dutch Health Minister Ernst Kuipers announced on Saturday via Platform X. Earlier, a joint photo of Kuipers and Omar had surfaced, which became known in the Netherlands only after the incident in Cologne. Kuipers regretted the joint photo. He did not know who it was.
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The North Rhine-Westphalian State Chancellery had condemned the appearance of the Taliban functionary. "The fact that members of a radical organization like the Taliban spread their ideologies unfiltered on German soil is an unspeakable process," a spokesman told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. On Saturday, the Düsseldorf Ministry of the Interior referred to an assessment by the Federal Prosecutor General: According to this, the Taliban is no longer a criminal or terrorist organization with their takeover of power in Afghanistan and the formation of a government in September 2021 "from this point in time". (vk/dpa)