No deportations of criminals to Afghanistan in sight

The Federal Ministry of the Interior considers the deportation of criminals and radical Islamists to Afghanistan to be impossible in the short term. “In a constitutional state, deportations require that they are possible and justifiable. But I don't see that in the case of Afghanistan at the moment," Parliamentary State Secretary Mahmut Özdemir (SPD) replied this week to a letter from the Union faction's spokesman for domestic affairs, Alexander Throm, to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) from February.

Since the Taliban took power in 2021, there has been no basis for identifying those who are obliged to leave the country and for issuing substitute passport documents, he explained in the letter, which is available to the German Press Agency (dpa). In addition, there is currently no procedure to ensure the protection and safety of escorts and aircraft crews.

Özdemir also pointed out that it is up to the immigration authorities of the federal states to initiate measures to end the stay. Nevertheless, the Federal Ministry of the Interior is in contact with the Federal Foreign Office in view of the need of the federal states to deport criminals and so-called dangerous persons.

Throm was dissatisfied with the reply to his letter. The CDU member of the Bundestag said: "The Ministry of the Interior makes one excuse after another as to why returns to Kabul are not possible - at the same time other countries such as Turkey have long been returning to Afghanistan". Afghan "dangerous people" and serious criminals must be brought back to their homeland as quickly as possible.

The deputy federal chairman of the German police union, Heiko Teggatz, also considers deportation flights to Afghanistan with charter planes to be feasible. He said: "For these individual cases, it would be possible to establish contacts."

When asked by Bundestag member Clara Bünger (left) about the status of the federal admissions program in Afghanistan, the federal government replied: "Since the end of October, around 3,100 Afghans who are particularly at risk have entered Germany." give to citizens. "Many refugees are arrested in Pakistan or Iran and deported to Afghanistan," said Bünger. "The vague announcement of a resettlement program for Pakistan is not enough."

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