Germany seeks to resume Afghan and Syrian deportations

Shafaq News – Berlin

Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is pushing for direct negotiations with the Taliban to resume deportations of Afghan criminals, Focus magazine reported on Thursday.

Dobrindt, of the Christian Social Union (CSU), argued that relying on intermediaries is no longer practical. “I envision us reaching direct agreements with Afghanistan to enable deportations,” he told Focus.

Since the Taliban seized power in 2021, Germany has largely suspended deportations to Afghanistan, except for one coordinated transfer last August that sent 28 convicted offenders to Kabul via Qatar.

Dobrindt also condemned stalled efforts to deport criminals to Syria, noting that talks with Syria’s interim authorities — formed after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Bashar al-Assad — have yet to yield results.

He further urged cuts to refugee admissions, calling Germany’s annual ceiling of 200,000 asylum seekers unrealistic and unsustainable. “A theoretical cap of 200,000 is no longer workable — and is far too high by today’s standards,” he warned, citing 600,000 new asylum applications in the past two years, not including 1.2 million Ukrainians.