KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Hannah Neumann, a member of the European Parliament, says that five years after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the group has not changed, but Europe has—and has abandoned the people of Afghanistan.
In a post on X on Friday, August 14, Neumann said that five years ago, European leaders asked how they could protect Afghans from the Taliban, while today they increasingly ask how they can cooperate with the group to facilitate the return of Afghans.
“Five years ago, we asked: How do we protect Afghans from the Taliban? Today, too often, we ask: How do we work with the Taliban to return Afghans? The Taliban haven’t changed. But we have. And we are failing Afghans,” Neumann wrote.
She recalled the images from the Taliban takeover in August 2021, including people clinging to departing military aircraft and parents lifting their children over barbed-wire fences in an attempt to get them to safety.
“15 August 2021 was our failure. And we knew it,” Neumann said.
According to Neumann, German leaders at the time spoke of a “moral responsibility,” promising not to abandon the Afghan people and pledging to protect them. Five years later, she said, Europe has abandoned Afghans while women and girls are systematically excluded from public life, with schools, universities, workplaces and parks closed to women and public flogging and stoning reintroduced.
Neumann said this abandonment is taking place under the guise of “technical negotiations,” “migration management” and “consular cooperation.”
She also criticized Germany’s acceptance of Taliban representatives at the Afghan Embassy in Berlin and the Afghan Consulate in Bonn, arguing that the move is not merely technical but represents “step-by-step normalization” of the Taliban.
Neumann said Afghans living in Germany now depend on representatives of the same regime they fled for passports, identity documents, employment and marriage documents, and residency-related services.
She argued that protection in Germany should mean freedom from persecutors, but said Afghans are instead increasingly living in fear of “transnational repression.”
According to Neumann, some Afghans have told her they fear intimidation and pressure against their relatives in Afghanistan after the Taliban gained access to their personal information through control of the embassy in Berlin and consulate in Bonn.
She strongly criticized the European Union’s engagement with the Taliban, saying that Europe has effectively signaled to the group that “if they control migration, they can have influence in Europe.”
Neumann stressed that five years after the Taliban’s return to power, the group has not changed its policies, while Europe’s approach toward the Taliban has changed significantly.
Neumann has previously criticized the European Union’s engagement with the Taliban. She was among the strongest opponents of the European Commission’s invitation to a Taliban delegation in Brussels and warned last month that she would hold the Commission accountable in the European Parliament over the decision.
Over the past two years, several EU countries — including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, and the Netherlands — have held meetings with Taliban delegations, often justified as necessary to facilitate the deportation of Afghan migrants. Germany has conducted multiple chartered deportation flights to Kabul in recent months, sending back dozens of Afghans convicted of crimes.
Germany was among the first European countries to engage with the Taliban and accepted two Taliban diplomats at the Afghan Embassy in Berlin and the Afghan Consulate in Bonn as “technical staff” to help facilitate deportations.
Reports have now emerged suggesting that these two Taliban representatives not only control Afghanistan’s embassy and consulate but also prevented a deportation flight from taking off last week in an attempt to “blackmail” Germany.
Meanwhile, the European Union has increasingly engaged with the Taliban on migration and the return of Afghan nationals, despite not formally recognizing the Taliban authorities. In June 2026, EU officials held their first direct talks with a Taliban delegation in Brussels, with discussions focused on the return of Afghans who do not have the right to remain in Europe, including some considered security risks or convicted of serious crimes.
The EU has described the engagement as technical and related to migration management, while Taliban officials have also raised issues including consular services and the establishment of diplomatic channels.
The talks have drawn strong criticism from human rights organizations and European lawmakers, who warn that cooperation on deportations could contribute to the normalization of the Taliban and expose Afghans to persecution, torture or other abuses after return. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on the EU to abandon deportation and readmission cooperation with the Taliban.
The controversy surrounding the EU’s engagement with the Taliban highlights the growing tension between migration management objectives and broader commitments to human rights and democratic values. Critics argue that any form of official engagement with the Taliban risks legitimizing a regime that continues to impose severe restrictions on women and girls, while supporters maintain that practical cooperation is necessary to address migration and consular issues.
