Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) warns of an escalation of the situation in Afghanistan and warns not to forget the suffering of the people in Afghanistan, despite the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. “We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe,” Baerbock said on a visit to Pakistan on Tuesday. “You are going in the wrong direction,” she added, addressing the militant Islamist Taliban who rule in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan should not be allowed to starve. “But anything other than humanitarian aid must be strictly conditional,” Baerbock said after talks with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in the capital, Islamabad.

Regarding the Taliban’s disregard for human and women’s rights, Baerbock said: “We have to be very honest. Our influence on what is happening in Afghanistan is very limited. It depends on the Taliban making rational decisions in their own economic interests. And they don’t at the moment. The Taliban are heading in the wrong direction.”

At the end of August 2021, the last international combat troops withdrew from Afghanistan after almost 20 years. The Taliban had already taken the capital Kabul without a fight.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Zardari called on the Islamic world to act together “so that we are better able to ensure that the Afghan regime meets international obligations”. In this way, an environment can be created that “reduces and does not increase the likelihood of terrorist activities”.