BERLIN: Germany may be close to finalising a deal with the Taliban government in Afghanistan for more regular deportation flights, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said in an interview published on Saturday.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in power since May, has promised to speed up expulsions of Afghan asylum seekers who have been found guilty of crimes in Germany.
But the returns are controversial because Berlin does not recognise the Taliban administration in Kabul.
Dobrindt told the online news site The Pioneer that discussions about more frequent flights were at a “very advanced” stage.
“So, we can assume that we will have an agreement very soon. We want to carry out regular deportations and that does not only mean using charter flights but also by commercial flights,” he added.
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Germany has made two deportation flights of convicted Afghans since 2021: 81 were returned in July this year and 28 last year.
The charter flights were organised by Qatar in a mediating role.
Germany’s interior ministry announced last month that direct discussions were taking place with the Taliban authorities.
Ministry staff last weekend held “technical discussions” with officials in Kabul to organise deportation flights, Dobrindt said.
The conservative minister said he “will do everything to make it work”, including going to the Afghan capital, adding that he wanted to “try the same thing with Syria”.
Like a number of European countries, Germany announced a freeze on asylum applications of Syrian nationals after the fall of president Bashar al-Assad.
Merz is banking on a tougher immigration policy to combat the rise of the far right in Germany, which is neck-and-neck with the conservatives in recent opinion polls.
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