Several Central Asian leaders called on Germany to normalize relations with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan during a summit with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.
Germany is critical of the radical Islamist Taliban group and has sent combat troops to the country for two decades as part of a US-led war to oust the Taliban from power.
Scholz is in the Kazakh capital Astana for a summit of five Central Asian countries. Afghanistan borders three of the countries: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
Scholz was cautious in his statements about Afghanistan on Tuesday, referring in particular to the enormous restrictions on women’s rights imposed by the Taliban in the country.
“What is happening there is unbearable,” Scholz said. “It is very clear to us that this government came to power illegitimately and there are many developments in the country at the moment that are very depressing.”
The Taliban seized Kabul and returned to power after US-led Western forces withdrew in a chaotic manner in August 2021. The Western-backed Afghan government quickly collapsed.
