Outgoing Dutch Minister Kuipers of Health regrets that he has been photographed with a representative of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. That happened last week at a meeting of the World Health Organization in The Hague.

Kuipers took pictures with Abdul Bari Omar, the head of the Afghan food and commodity authority and a senior Taliban representative.

Abdul Bari Omar was also in Cologne, Germany 20231116, where he gave a Taliban promotion speech in a mosque in Cologne on Thursday. According to the German public broadcaster WDR, about 70 people were present. The mosque association says it is shocked by Omar’s arrival. The meeting would have been announced as a religious event, not as a political meeting.

The German Foreign Ministry is furious about the arrival of the Taliban official. “We strongly condemn his appearance,” he said. The ministry said no visa was issued. “The trip was not announced. As long as the Taliban tramples on human rights in Afghanistan, especially the rights of women and girls, we will not be able to maintain normal ties with the Taliban regime.”