Paper trail shows how Switzerland negotiated with Taliban

On August 15, 2026, the Taliban celebrated the fifth anniversary of their return to power in Afghanistan. EPA / Samiullah Popal

Following a visit by a Taliban delegation to Switzerland in summer 2025, three men were deported to Afghanistan. Documents obtained under transparency laws by Zurich-based research collective WAV reveal how the Swiss authorities collaborated with the repressive regime to make this happen.

In August 2025, a Taliban delegation came to GenevaExternal link for the purpose of identifying 13 Afghan nationals convicted of crimes in Switzerland and whom the Swiss government wished to deport.

It is the task of the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) to obtain the necessary documents for any person due to be removed or deported from Switzerland. According to explanations given at the time by the SEM, the visit by the Afghan officials was necessary because Afghanistan only accepts travel documents issued by the authorities in Kabul.

The SEM stated External link that the Afghan officials did not leave the airport during their stay and that the purpose of the visit was an “investigation carried out by consular staffExternal link”. However, documents now obtained under transparency laws by the research collective WAV* and shared with the Swiss French-language daily Le CourrierExternal link tell a different story.

From August 19 to 21, 2025, four members of the radical Islamist Taliban regime spent two nights at the Mövenpick Hotel in Geneva. The hotel is very close to, but not within the perimeter of the airport, contrary to the SEM’s statement. Switzerland spent CHF13,490 ($16,250) on the visit.

The correspondence obtained includes emails between the Swiss embassy in Islamabad, the Swiss foreign ministry, the SEM and the Taliban administration. All names and other information deemed sensitive have been redacted.

In the correspondence, the SEM and the foreign ministry refer to a “technical delegation” and a “consular mission”, but they address the delegates in a decidedly diplomatic tone. The SEM also passed on personal details of the people it wished to deport to the Taliban administration. Asylum law experts have denounced this as a scandal that could put the deportees’ safety at risk.

These new revelations are fuelling concerns among politicians and experts that, as a result, Switzerland has lent legitimacy to the Taliban. The group is subject to United Nations and European Union sanctions. It systematically violates human rights and represses its opponents with extreme violence. Girls, women and minorities are the primary victims.

In July 2025, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for the Taliban’s most senior leaders. Shortly afterwards, however, representatives of the regime were received in Geneva.

‘Courtesy dinner’

A note dated June 23, 2025 states that “the Swiss Embassy in Pakistan presents its compliments to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is honoured to hand over a letter from the SEM”. Further on, it reiterates “the assurance of its highest consideration”.

When asked about the choice of tone in light of the violent crimes committed by the Taliban, the SEM replied that “such polite phrases are an integral part of international communication and cannot be used to draw political conclusions”. Furthermore, although an email states that “no official meetings are planned in Switzerland”, a “courtesy dinner for a maximum of nine people” was on the programme.

All the delegates held diplomatic passports. The Protocol, Privileges and Immunities Section of the Swiss foreign ministry also agreed to facilitate the granting of visas. The answer to the question “Are the members of the Afghan delegation considered to be members of government?” has been redacted. The SEM now replies in the negative and states that none of them enjoyed immunity. “The granting of these visas in no way implies that Switzerland recognises the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan,” it stresses.  

After the visit, on September 22, 2025, Social Democrat member of parliament Jean Tschopp questioned the governmentExternal link on the matter. Now, in response to the content of the correspondence, he states: “If these details are confirmed, such facilitation goes far beyond the mere ‘provision of consular services to Afghan nationals wishing or needing to return to their country of origin’, as the federal government stated in its reply, in an attempt to downplay its involvement.”

According to Tschopp, “this approach legitimises an authoritarian regime, while it is unclear what guarantees, if any, were obtained in return regarding the fate of the people concerned.”

Money allowance from the Swiss government

The four Taliban delegates flew from Kabul to Geneva with a stopover in Dubai. They conducted two hearings with the individuals Switzerland wished to deport. Via its embassy in Pakistan, Switzerland had furnished them in advance with “information sheets on each candidate”. The interviews took place in SEM facilities within Geneva airport.

According to the programme, the Taliban diplomats were due to return to their hotel after the meetings. The SEM says it has “no evidence to suggest that the delegation left its accommodation during the mission”.

The Taliban also received money from the federal government. As shown by receipts, the four Afghan delegates were each granted a per diem of CHF150 upon their arrival. According to the authorities, this was intended to cover costs associated with the holding of the meetings and transport on the spot. However, the list of expenses already includes amounts allocated for meals and notes that transfer from the hotel to the airport was organised by the SEM.

Three Afghan men deported

The final protocol states that, of the 13 people interviewed, eight were formally identified as Afghans by the Taliban consuls. Doubts remained regarding five others for whom “further investigations were required”. Following additional checks in Afghanistan, the delegation confirmed the identify of one more person, but agreed to issue documents for only six people. Some of the delegation’s replies were not shared with WAV.

The SEM reports that three people were subsequently deported and that further deportations are planned. The individuals in question were subject to a criminal deportation order issued by a court, which had verified “the lawfulness of their removal”, the SEM explains, without providing further details.

Subsequent messages reveal that Switzerland has no qualms about passing on sensitive information to the authoritarian regime. Federal officials thus asked those facing deportation for the contact details of their relatives in Afghanistan, so the Taliban could identify them – a request the potential deportees refused.

The authorities also disclosed the amount of financial assistance provided by Switzerland to ease their return: up to CHF6,000 in cash, handed over at the airport, for those leaving voluntarily, versus CHF500 for those being forcibly returned. Upon arrival in Kabul, returnees are registered by the regime and housed for three days in a facility at the airport, according to the Taliban delegates.

‘Dangerous strategy’

Several organisations have expressed deep shock on reading these documents. Elisa Turtschi, a coordinator at the Observatory on the Rights of Asylum and Foreigners (ODAE) in French-speaking Switzerland, finds the revelations particularly disturbing. “It is extremely serious that the SEM is disclosing personal information about people who came to Switzerland seeking protection; and all the more so when it is shared with a regime that systematically violates human rights.” Just because a person was not granted asylum in Switzerland does not mean they are not at risk in their own country, she adds.

Meanwhile, Lea Hungerbühler from AsyLex, an organisation that defends the rights of refugees, considers cooperation with the Taliban and the sharing of personal and administrative information to be extremely problematic. “As I see it, placing people in a facility at Kabul airport is tantamount to extrajudicial detention. We do not know what happens to them while they are there, or afterwards.” According to the specialist in asylum law, Switzerland is adopting a particularly hardline stance and positioning itself as a European “pioneer” in deporting people to states where injustice prevails, such as Afghanistan or Burundi.

When asked about the nature of the checks conducted to ensure the safety of those being deported, the SEM merely states that it has received “no negative reports from people who returned to their countries of origin voluntarily”. It further explains that people who have committed criminal offences must remain in special facilities at Kabul airport while the authorities verify whether they have any outstanding sentences, adding that it is not aware of any cases where a person was then brought before a court.

Turtschi of ODAE condemns this as a dangerous strategy. “As well as putting people’s lives at risk, hosting a Taliban delegation in Switzerland effectively legitimises this violent regime. This course of action is shocking,” says the lawyer. “Switzerland paid CHF13,000 and worked with the representatives of a criminal regime in order to deport six people who may have committed nothing more than minor offences in our country,” she adds.

Switzerland resumed deportations to Afghanistan in 2025

Taliban delegations have also been received in Germany and Brussels with a view to facilitating deportations to Afghanistan. Several NGOs have condemned the normalisation of diplomatic exchanges with the regime.

“Inviting them, without even mentioning women’s rights, is absolutely dangerous, because that is exactly what the Taliban want. They want to discuss technical issues without anyone meddling in the issue of women’s rights,” explained Fereshta Abbasi, an Afghan researcher for the NGO Human Rights Watch, on French public news service France InfoExternal link last June.

>> In Afghanistan, women and girls in particular are paying the price for failed policies, writes Norah Niland, a human rights and humanitarian practitioner.

Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban have dismantled the existing legal framework. Human rights organisation Amnesty International has denounced the arbitrary delivery of justice, torture and public executions in Afghanistan.

Yet, despite these documented facts, in April 2025 the SEM decided to resume the deportation of Afghan men whose asylum applications had been rejected, on the grounds that a return to Afghanistan was acceptable under certain conditions.

Amnesty International is strongly opposed to this. “No one is safe in this system built solely on fear and repression. Anyone there could face the threat of torture. That is why Switzerland must immediately halt deportations to Afghanistan, which constitute a violation of international law,” said Alicia Giraudel, an expert on asylum law at the organisation, in a press releaseExternal link last August. 

* WAV carries out investigative research and works with various media outlets across Switzerland. Follow all of WAV’s publications at: www.wav.info/newsletterExternal link

Adapted from French by Julia Bassam/gw

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