It’s published •update
Germany wants to negotiate a direct agreement with the Taliban, according to Home Minister Alexander Dobrinz.
“My idea is that we can directly agree with Afghanistan to allow repatriation,” he said in a weekly interview with Focus news magazine on Thursday.
“We still need third parties to hold consultations with Afghanistan. This cannot continue to be a permanent solution.”
In August, Germany convicted Afghan citizens in Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power in 2021 and halted deportation.
Berlin said these flights were promoted with the support of “major regional partners.” But now, Germany wants to work with the Taliban in Kabul to do this in person.
In an interview Thursday, Dobrinz said Berlin was also in contact with Damascus to reach an agreement on the deportation of Syrian migrants convicted of German crimes.
Dobrindt represents the Conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Prime Minister Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Merz has pledged to expel people to Syria and Afghanistan and suspend refugee hospitalization programs for former local staff at the latter German agency.
The admissions program was established after the Taliban acquisition was said to be a direct threat to their lives as there is a possibility of retaliation.
The United Nations promotion for “forced returns” to Afghanistan
Immigration was an important issue. Germans headed to the polls and voted for the SNAP federal election in February, causing several famous attacks by far right and immigrants.
Syrians and Afghans form two largest groups of German asylum seekers, with 76,765 Syrians and 34,149 Afghans applying for asylum last year.
On Friday, the United Nations criticized plans to sign a deal with the Taliban to bring migrants back to Afghanistan.
“It’s not appropriate to bring people back to Afghanistan,” Rabina Shamdasani, a spokesman for the UN Human Rights Office, told reporters in Geneva.
“We have documented ongoing human rights abuses in Afghanistan,” she said, highlighting the strict restrictions on women’s rights and executions.
Arafat Jamal of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Kabul said his organization still has a “non-recovery recommendation” for Afghanistan.
“In other words… ground conditions are not yet ready for returns,” he said. “We urge the country not to force it back to Afghanistan.”
Germany has not recognized the Taliban government since its acquisition in 2021 after NATO forces withdraw from the country and has not maintained official diplomatic ties with Kabul.
On Friday, Russia officially recognized the Taliban government and became the world’s first country to establish full diplomatic relations with Kabul.
Afghanistan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaki said he hopes the move will serve as an example of another country, but that it has been criticized by opposition figures and human rights groups.
