UN coordinator Markus Potzel on the oppression of women and the duty of the West.
Mr. Potzel, how is the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan now?
Precarious. Winter has set in. People need fuel, they need food, they need medicine. From the UN side, we reached 24.4 million people with humanitarian aid this year. And we expect that next year it will be 28.3 million, which is about three quarters of the population. That’s a pretty steep increase. The bottom line is actually that you have to do more than emergency aid. You have to enable the country to take care of itself.
How can the international community achieve this without supporting the Taliban?
This is precisely the dilemma we all find ourselves in. On the one hand we don’t want to support the regime, on the other hand we don’t want to let the people down. We see an increase in humanitarian needs and a simultaneous decrease in willingness to help Afghanistan. Afghanistan has slipped out of the headlines and is of course overshadowed by other conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine. And with their draconian measures, as we have seen them recently, the Taliban are not making it easy for the donor countries either.
Now the Taliban have banned women from going to university.
Yes, this shows once again the contempt of a small minority of the Taliban for educated women. And it shows what role these few men with their backward-looking thinking intend to assign to women in contemporary Afghan society. I don’t think women will put up with that for long. And it is now primarily up to the men to oppose this policy.
Previously, the closure of secondary schools for girls was a central criticism of the Taliban regime by western states. Do you see any hope that girls’ schools will be allowed to reopen in the foreseeable future?
No, I don’t think so. In fact, the Taliban – at least the decision-makers in Kandahar – care relatively little about what the world thinks of them. However, we regularly raise this with the Taliban in our meetings.
After taking power, the Taliban tried at times to give the impression that they were no longer as radical and backward as they were during their first rule between 1996 and late 2001. Now, however, girls and women are being oppressed again and public flogging is happening again. Have the Taliban changed?
We have seen a general downward trend towards the Taliban as they were in the 90’s since the beginning of this year. I don’t see that the Taliban have changed. There is certainly a generation gap within the Taliban. But those who are in charge, and they are in Kandahar, are very ideological. And for them, Islam is above everything. And not Islam per se, but their own Sharia interpretation, very strongly mixed with traditional Pashtun tribal elements.
You mentioned the southern Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, and the cabinet is in Kabul. What are the power structures like? Is the cabinet just waste?
I would not say that. The Cabinet is an executive body. But the decisions are made in Kandahar, where Emir Hibatullah Akhundzada is based. I have now met several people who have credibly assured me that they spent hours with the Emir trying to get their point of view across to him. And it’s also clear that the Emir shows a lot of consideration for the people who fought for 20 years and who say, for example, that they didn’t fight for girls’ schools. Another attempted explanation for the hard line is that the Taliban are afraid that supporters will desert their flag and defect to the terrorist militia “Islamic State”.
You were formerly the German ambassador in Kabul. Germany and other Western countries closed their diplomatic missions when the Taliban took power. Do you think embassies should reopen?
My appeal would be for more Western countries to be represented here again. You can simply better assess the situation on site when you are here. It’s hard to do that from Doha or Berlin. Germany and other Western countries have interests in Afghanistan, one shouldn’t forget that. And if you want to assert these interests, it’s better to be there. The EU representation has reopened. The Japanese embassy is back. I think that’s important.
You’re specifically addressing the appeal to Germany as well, I assume?
Yes, but not only to Germany. Opening embassies does not have to mean recognizing the Taliban regime. There are some countries that have never closed their embassy. Despite this, no country currently recognizes the Taliban regime.
Interview: Can Merey, Frankfurter Rundschau
