German minister: Talks with Taliban on deportations ‘well advanced’

Discussions between Germany and the Taliban on deportations of offenders to Afghanistan are “well advanced,” Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Thursday.

In a debate in the German parliament, Dobrindt said “technical discussions” recently took place in Kabul with employees from his ministry.

“I want to tell you that these talks are well advanced and we will continue along this path consistently,” the minister told lawmakers in Berlin. “Criminals have no place in Germany. We will regularly deport them to Afghanistan.”

Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s administration has pledged to step up deportations since taking office in May.

Contacts with the Taliban are controversial, as the German government does not officially maintain diplomatic relations with the Islamist organization, which returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

The group is internationally isolated due to its disregard for human rights and women’s rights in particular.

Since 2021, Afghan criminals have been deported from Germany on two occasions with the help of Qatar.

According to Dobrindt, one issue in the Kabul talks was whether it would be possible to regularly deport people to Afghanistan using scheduled flights as well as chartered ones.