The European country seeking a deal with the Taliban to return migrants | World | News
Germany “will very soon” have a deal in place with the Taliban to deport Afghan migrants to Afghanistan. Chancellor Friedrich Merz has promised the German people that returns to Syria and Afghanistan will be made under his administration. Leaders across Europe have been seeking ways to deport migrants back to Afghanistan in large numbers, with Germany leading the charge within the European Union for the bloc to establish ties with the Taliban government.
Berlin had suspended deportations to the central Asia country after the Taliban seized back power in 2021 but they restarted deportations of Afghan nationals convicted of crimes back to Afghanistan last August. “We will very soon have an agreement in place that will allow us to regularly repatriate people to Afghanistan on scheduled flights,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said earlier this month.
Mr Dobrindt also previously told Focus that Germany has contacted Syria in an effort to reach a deal to deport convicted Syrian migrants.
Official figures show there were 76,765 Syrian and 34,149 Afghan asylum seeker applications in Germany in 2024.
Over the summer, Germany arranged one deportation flight to Afghanistan, sending 81 Afghans convicted of crimes to the country.
Mr Merz is now seeking to strike a deal directly with the Taliban to increase the number of flights. Germany has also become the first EU country to allow Taliban representatives to serve in Afghan consulates in the country.
“The repatriations we have carried out to Afghanistan are of great interest to many other countries,” Mr Dobrindt said, adding that discussions had taken place about “who would like to join in, and whether and how this would be possible”.
Germany doesn’t formally recognise the Taliban government, unlike Russia which became the first country to do so July 3.
The deportations plan previously 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.
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.
