Germany’s Interior Ministry clapped back at criticism from the Christian Democrat party (CSU/CDU) this week on how to deal with Afghan criminals.
Also with the radicals residing in the country ever since the takeover of the Taliban in 2021.
Parliamentary State Secretary Mahmut Özdemir of the Social Democrats responded to a letter CDU policy spokesman Alexander Throm sent the Interior Ministry in February.
The letter demanded that dangerous Afghan nationals be deported, telling Throm that deportations were not currently an option in the case of Afghanistan.
“In a constitutional state, deportations presuppose that they are possible and justifiable.
“However, I do not see that in the case of Afghanistan at the moment,’’ said Özdemir in the letter which emerged on Thursday.
Since the Taliban took power in 2021, there had been no basis for identifying people who were obliged to leave the country.
Also the people leaving the country and for issuing substitute passport documents, Özdemir wrote in the letter, which was obtained by dpa.
He added that there was currently no procedure to ensure protection and safety of the escorts and the aircraft crews.
The German embassy in Afghanistan had been closed since the Taliban took over.
For this reason, said Özdemir, it was not currently possible to agree on the necessary and reliable framework conditions with the Taliban to organise these deportations.
He added that the political and humanitarian situation on the ground remained very uncertain, which further complicated sending people back.
Throm was dissatisfied with this response: “The Interior Ministry gives one excuse after another as to why repatriations to Kabul are not possible at the same time.
“Other countries such as Turkey have long been returning people to Afghanistan,’’ he said.
The government said that around 3,100 Afghans had entered Germany since the Taliban took over and this year it planned to take in Afghan nationals residing in Pakistan.
Afghanistan had become increasingly isolated from the West due to the Taliban’s draconian policies towards women, their disregard for human rights and their refusal to form a representative government. (dpa/NAN)
