Four years ago today, the Taliban’s seizure of power drastically changed life for the people in Afghanistan. For women and girls in particular, 15 August 2021 marked a severe rupture, the start of a life without freedom, without prospects of education or work. Since then, the Taliban have curtailed the rights of women and minorities more and more. Under the Taliban, grave human rights violations have once again become part of everyday life. A return to the international community will be impossible unless the Taliban at last uphold international obligations, above all respect for the Afghan people’s human rights.

At the same time, the people in Afghanistan are lacking everything. More than half of the population – around 23 million people – have inadequate access to food, clean drinking water and medical care. Children and pregnant women in particular are suffering from acute malnutrition. They urgently need support, including from Germany. That is why we are providing emergency humanitarian assistance wherever possible in Afghanistan. However, our assistance bypasses the de facto government and is provided solely via international organisations such as the UN. In view of the catastrophic situation in Afghanistan, we have decided, along with the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, to make available an additional 5.8 million euro.

The situation of the people from the federal admissions programmes who are still in Pakistan is also a source of great concern for us. Many of them are at risk of being deported. For this reason, we are in high-level contact with the Government of Pakistan to ensure protection for these people and to provide rapid help to those who have been deported or detained in recent days.