Germany is pushing for a deal with the Taliban which if struck would see Afghan nationals set for deportation returned to Afghanistan. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the idea is to strike agreements directly with Afghanistan to “enable” repatriations.
He told the news magazine Focus: “We still need third parties to conduct talks with Afghanistan. This cannot remain a permanent solution.” Berlin had suspended deportations to the central Asia country after the Taliban seized back power in 2021.
Germany restarted deportations of Afghan nationals convicted of crimes back to Afghanistan last August.
At the time, other countries helped to get the flights going, but Berlin now wants to deal directly with the Taliban, Euronews reports.
Mr Dobrindt told Focus the Germany has also contacted Syria in an effort to reach a deal to deport convicted Syrian migrants.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz has promised the German people that returns to Syria and Afghanistan will be made under his administration.
Official figures show there were 76,765 Syrian and 34,149 Afghan asylum seeker applications in 2024.
The deportations plan sparked criticism from the United Nations. Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the United Nations Human Rights Office, told reporters in Geneva it wasn’t appropriate to return people to Afghanistan.
She said the agency has been documenting continuing human rights violations in Afghanistan and pointed to severe restrictions on women’s rights and executions.
Arafat Jamal from the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR, said conditions in Afghanistan mean the country is not yet ready for returns, urging countries not to forcibly return people.
Women are barred from most jobs and public places, including parks, baths and gyms, while girls are banned from education beyond Year 7.
Germany doesn’t formally recognised the Taliban government, unlike Russia which became the first country to do so on Thursday (July 3).
Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced it had received credentials from Afghanistan’s newly appointed Ambassador Gul Hassan Hassan.
The ministry said official recognition of the Afghan government would foster “productive bilateral cooperation”.
Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry called it a historic step and quoted Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as welcoming the decision as “a good example for other countries”.