Secret relations during British indirect colonial rule The
Treaty of Gandomak (26 or 30 May 1879) and the Treaty of the
Durand Line overruled a prior agreement from 1893 concerning of porous border between
British India (now
Pakistan) and
Afghanistan. As a result of this treaty Britain gained full control of Afghan foreign policy from the king of Afghanistan. Germany, as a rival to Britain, was only able through secret missions and expeditions to reduce British influence in Afghanistan. Engineer Gebhard Fleischer, nicknamed
The German James Bond in Kabul, was an engineer of the
Krupp company, a German arms manufacturer. In 1893 he traveled to Kabul and privately met with the King
Abdur Rahman Khan. Under the Kings orders he expanded the Afghan weapons companies
Maschin Khana (
House of machines) and
Tupkhana (
cannon house). It is not certain whether the government in British India knew of this journey. Later, in 1904, the Krupp engineers were mysteriously assassinated. Adamec writes:
Trade and Friendship treaty of 1916 The relations between
Germany and
Afghanistan began before
World War I. Relations between these two countries have historically been friendly. The second German-Afghan meeting between Habibullah Khan and a 23-member German delegation took place in 1915. The main intentions of this delegation was to weaken British influence in Afghanistan as part of the
Niedermayer-Hentig expedition. However, during this expedition in 1916 a friendly trade-agreement occurred. The trade contracted concluded even though there were prior diplomatic relations between these countries. According to the Treaty of 24 January 1916 the German delegation to the Government of Afghanistan was promised 100,000 rifles and 300 guns. A friendship agreement was made on 3 March 1926. With recognition of the ambassadors in both these countries. In 1926 the prior existing
friendship and trade agreement of 24 January 1916 was ratified.
Diplomatic relations and accreditation of consul The first Afghan delegation to Germany occurred in 1922 where the delegation traveled to Berlin for talks on diplomacy, trade and cultural relations. In response Germany sent
Dr. Fritz Grobba to Afghanistan in 1932. For the first year he worked as
Consul in
Kabul, acting as the de facto German embassy, until 1926 then managing the ambassadors work in Kabul. The "Embassy" titled as the
Diplomatic representation and the residence of the minister plenipotentiary was located in
Kabul near the
Gardens of Babur. The Afghan King,
Amanullah Khan, visited Germany on 22 February 1928 where he met the President of the
Weimar Republic,
Paul von Hindenburg.
1930s and war period Afghanistan established close ties with Germany prior to 1935 – forming important economic and technical connections, and seeking an alternative to its historical position as a contested territory between the USSR and Britain. Germany increased commercial transactions in Afghanistan during this period, with a weekly Berlin-Kabul air service established, and the
Organisation Todt supervised major infrastructure projects in the country. Afghanistan resisted calls from Moscow and London to expel the Italian and German diplomatic corps at the beginning of the
Second World War. During 1940 and 1941, there were plans initiated by Afghan economic minister
Abdul Majid Zabuli for Afghanistan to join the
Axis bloc in return for Germany providing additional military aid and access to the
Karachi Port by taking land from
British India. In addition, Zabuli spoke of "liberating" the 15 million strong
ethnic Afghan population across the border. However following the Soviet Union's change of allegiance to the United Kingdom, and their joint
invasion of Iran, Afghanistan was suddenly surrounded by the
Allied forces. It eventually in October 1941 accepted their demand to expel Italians and Germans, although small diplomatic staff remained. although full official relations did not start resume until December 1954.
Ghulam Mohammad Farhad, who served as mayor of
Kabul from 1948, hired and brought West German engineers and products for the Kabul Electric Company. Meanwhile,
East Germany supported the Soviet role in the country and assisted the Afghan government. Afghanistan and East Germany did not have many links since the latter was recognized in 1973, but this all changed during the Afghan communist regime. Cultural and economic agreements were made, and both countries' media agencies cooperated. The basis was formed following a visit by Afghan leader,
Babrak Karmal, to East Germany, after which a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation was signed on May 21, 1982. Their cooperation had a particular focus on the education sector. In 1985, total East German solidarity donations to Afghans was over 200 million
marks, most of which came from the
Free German Trade Union Federation.
After German reunification The
German Armed Forces were part of the
ISAF mission in Afghanistan from December 2001. Germany hosted the
Bonn Conference, which chose
Hamid Karzai as Afghanistan's interim leader in 2001. Currently Germany is engaged in a security mission with its military and reconstruction efforts in the northern areas of Afghanistan, and has been one of the principal donors to Afghanistan. On 23 December 2021, German Foreign Minister
Annalena Baerbock warned that Afghanistan is "heading into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our time," with major
economic sectors collapsing and more than 24 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. She promised to speed up the
evacuation of more than 15,000 vulnerable Afghans, including local Afghan staff who worked for Germany and their family members. == Resident diplomatic missions ==