Taliban to send envoys to Germany to work on deportations
Germany does not recognise the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan but does have "technical contacts" on the deportations, which have been facilitated by Qatar.
Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius said that during the exchanges "it has been agreed that two representatives of the Afghan administration will be incorporated" into Afghanistan's missions in Germany.
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) daily, the two envoys will work at the Afghan embassy in Berlin and at the country's consulate in the western city of Bonn.
The Taliban authorities demanded this step in return for making last Friday's flight possible, the paper reported.
The FAZ said that the names of the envoys had been sent to Berlin and that they had already worked in consular services and were not considered extremists.
Germany stopped deportations to Afghanistan and closed its embassy in Kabul following the Taliban movement's return to power in 2021.
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Germany presses ahead with deportations to Afghanistan
However in 2024 the last German government resumed expulsions with a flight in August carrying 28 Afghans.
Current chancellor Friedrich Merz has vowed to continue deportations, having made a tougher line on immigration a key campaign theme in February's general election.
Kornelius said that further flights were in the offing.
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"The government has committed to systematic expulsions of those convicted of crimes and this will not be accomplished with just one flight," he said.
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DW
3 hours ago
- DW
German-Afghan relations under scrutiny over deportations – DW – 07/24/2025
The German government's policy of deporting Afghan criminials to Afghanistan relies on cooperation with the Taliban government in Kabul. The Islamists are hoping this is the first step toward diplomatic recognition. "We have succeeded in organizing another deportation flight with convicted criminals to Afghanistan," Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in a press release on July 18, following the departure of a plane from Leipzig to Kabul with 81 Afghan men with failed asylum applications and criminal convictions on board. As Dobrindt sees it, this flight means that the governing coalition of the center-right bloc of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) has made good on its promise. "We will start deporting people to Afghanistan and Syria, beginning with criminals and dangerous individuals," they wrote in their coalition agreement. Deportation flights had already been conducted under the previous center-left government, which lost the general election on February 23, 2025. Nevertheless, Dobrindt (CSU) spoke of a "policy shift" — with reference to the "repatriation offensive." The plan is to put more pressure on countries to take back their citizens. In the case of Afghanistan, this is particularly tricky and sensitive because Germany has not officially recognized the Taliban as a legitimate government. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The Islamist Taliban returned to power in August 2021 following 20 years of struggle, after the US-led military mission ended in failure with the withdrawal of international troops. The humanitarian situation is dire and the radical Islamic fundamentalists have once again been systematically oppressing girls and women. An estimated 377,000 individuals of Afghan origin live in Germany. Many of them came as refugees. Many of them are permitted to stay although their individual asylum request has not been granted. In Germany, just under 11,500 Afghans are registered as required to leave the country, according to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in May this year. The BAMF was unable to say whether and how many criminals or dangerous individuals are among those required to leave the country. Deportations to Afghanistan were taking place even before the Taliban regained power. They were controversial at the time due to the precarious security situation and remain so today due to ongoing human rights violations. Interior Minister Dobrindt nevertheless intends to stick to his course: "Serious criminals have no right to reside in our country," he said and government spokesman Stefan Kornelius announced on Monday that more deportations are to follow: "This isn't resolved with one flight." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Germany is hoping to avoid the impression that it's boosting the Taliban's international standing. The German government speaks of "technical contacts." The recent deportations were facilitated by the Qatari government. As government spokesman Stefan Kornelius put it, Qatar's role is as a mediator: "We're in ongoing contact with the de facto government in Afghanistan to arrange technical aspects." He avoided using the word Taliban. An agreement had been reached for the current Afghan administration to send two representatives to Germany, who will be based in the embassy in Berlin. The new diplomats will be tasked with "supporting further planned repatriation flights." This is the first time that the regime, which is not recognized by Germany, sends its own personnel to Germany. Germany and Afghanistan are clearly entering a new phase. Nevertheless, following the latest deportation flight, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz was adamant: "Diplomatic recognition of the Taliban regime is not up for discussion. That is simply out of the question," Merz said at a press conference in Berlin. However, Conrad Schetter, an Afghanistan expert from the Bonn International Center for Conflict Studies (BICC), believes that other countries may follow Russia's lead and officially recognize the Taliban government. Schetter pointed to Afghanistan's close ties with other countries, including Pakistan and Qatar: if these countries follow Russia's example, it could put considerable political pressure on Western countries, he told DW. "And this is likely to spark the kind of diplomatic momentum that the Taliban are hoping will be triggered by Russia's latest move," said Schetter. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Peace and conflict researcher Nicole Deitelhoff from the University of Frankfurt am Main has strongly criticized Germany's policy on Afghanistan. In the newspaper, she wrote that deportations are inadmissible if those affected are at risk of torture or inhumane treatment in their country of origin. What's more, she predicts that the policy shift will negatively impact on Germany's reputation. Deitelhoff points to the German government's decision to end its admission program for former Afghan workers who aided the Bundeswehr during its military engagement. "Who can still trust a country that promises its civilian aid workers that it will ensure their safety in the future and then abandons them just like that?" Deitelhoff you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter, Berlin Briefing.
Int'l Business Times
4 hours ago
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The United Nations said Thursday that Taliban authorities were committing human rights violations, including torture and arbitrary detention, against Afghans forced to return by Iran and Pakistan. Large-scale deportation campaigns launched by Iran and Pakistan have forced millions of Afghans to return to Afghanistan, including more than 1.9 million people so far in 2025, the overwhelming majority from Iran. "People returning to the country who were at particular risk of reprisals and other human rights violations by the de facto (Taliban) authorities were women and girls, individuals affiliated with the former government and its security forces, media workers and civil society," the UN said in a statement accompanying the release of the report. "These violations have included torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and threats to personal security." The UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) recently estimated that up to three million people could return to Afghanistan in 2025, to a country facing a severe humanitarian crisis. The report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the UN Human Rights Office was based on interviews with 49 returned Afghans. It said violations have been committed against Afghans "based on their specific profile", including women, media workers, and members of civil society, as well as individuals affiliated with the former foreign-backed government that fell in 2021. The Taliban government has previously denied allegations of abuse, having declared an amnesty against those who worked for NATO forces and the former government during their two-decade conflict against the Taliban's insurgency. "Nobody should be sent back to a country where they face risk of persecution on account of their identity or personal history," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement earlier this month. "In Afghanistan, this is even more pronounced for women and girls, who are subjected to a range of measures that amount to persecution on the basis of their gender alone," he added. Over the past four years, women have been increasingly isolated from public life by the Taliban authorities, which have banned them from universities, public parks, gyms and beauty salons, in what the UN has denounced as "gender apartheid". The Taliban government says that their interpretation of Islamic law "guarantees" everyone's rights and that allegations of discrimination are "unfounded". Russia is the only country that has recognised the Taliban government since it seized power in 2021 following the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. Neighbouring Tajikistan has followed Islamabad and Tehran's example by announcing its intention to expel Afghans. Since July 8, at least 377 have been deported, the UNHCR told AFP. Germany, meanwhile, deported 81 Afghan men last week who had committed crimes and United States announced it would revoke the temporary protection status for thousands of Afghans. According to the UN, the recent increase in number of returnees has created a 'multi-layered human rights crisis' and the organisation called last week for an "immediate halt" to forcible returns.
DW
6 hours ago
- DW
Germany updates: Munich Airport plans deportation terminal – DW – 07/24/2025
Germany's second-largest largest airport is reportedly planning a "repatriation terminal" to process migrant deportations. Meanwhile, German Catholics have criticized the humanitarian situation in Gaza. DW has Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) said on Thursday that it was "appalled" by the suffering being endured by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and called on the German government to ensure the enforcement of international law. "The humanitarian situation for the civilian population in Gaza is catastrophic," ZdK President Irme Stetter-Karp told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). While acknowledging that Israel "has a legitimate right to defend itself against the terrorist organization Hamas," she said that didn't absolve the Israeli government from its responsibility to respect international law. Stetter-Karp also said Israel's military operations were impacting the civilian population to an "unjustifiable" extent and highlighted the acute threat of starvation, illness and death facing children in the besieged enclave. "We are aghast that 875 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access aid at the distribution centers in Gaza," she said. "This approach by the Israeli government must end immediately!" Stetter-Karp also highlighted the plight of Palestinian Christians in the occupied West Bank, who she said were increasingly the targets of Israeli settler violence. Germany's second-largest airport is reportedly planning to construct a special deportation terminal in which police will process the repatriation of migrants to be deported. According to a planning document seen by the Reuters news agency, the so-called "repatriation terminal" at Munich Airport is to be around 60 meters long and spread over two floors. The facility, which is designed to facilitate "up to 100 arrivals and departures processing up to 50 individual measures and group charter flights daily," is planned for 2028 and will also include a "central check-in in order to coordinate repatriations efficiently," according to the document. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, both of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), have taken a strong stance on deportations of migrants with criminal convictions or rejected asylum claims. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter, of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), said the deportation of those convicted of crimes to their home countries was a sensible measure. "Therefore I don't think it's fundamentally wrong to propose such a terminal," he said. But political support is not universal. Local Green Party politician Gülseren Demirel told the broadsheet: "We are more than critical of a specific terminal for deportations." Welcome to DW's coverage of developments in Germany on Thursday, July 24. Despite Germany's dramatic defeat in the Euro 2025 semifinal last night, we all have to carry on, so here's what's on the agenda today:
