Internal Security
Deportation of Afghans: Berlin negotiates with Uzbekistan
“Serious criminals and terrorist threats have no place here.” Photo
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
How can Afghan deportation candidates who are serious criminals be deported without direct contact with the Islamist Taliban rulers? One way could now be via a neighboring country.
According to a “Spiegel” report, the Federal Ministry of the Interior is negotiating with Uzbekistan on deportations of Afghans from Germany without direct agreements with the Taliban.
For this purpose, a delegation from the house of Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) traveled to the Uzbek capital Tashkent in the last week of May, the news magazine reported. The delegation suggested to the Uzbek government that they bring Afghan deportation candidates to Tashkent. From there, they would be transported to Kabul by the private airline “KamAir”. According to dpa information, the most recent idea was to hire a charter company based in Romania for the flight from Germany to Uzbekistan.
Uzbek government demands formal migration agreement
According to the report, the Uzbek government has indicated that it can help with deportations. However, before a deal on the deportations is reached, it wants to sign a formal migration agreement with Germany that will regulate the entry of Uzbek skilled workers into Germany. Joachim Stamp (FDP), the Federal Government’s special representative for migration agreements, will travel to Uzbekistan next week for talks on such an agreement.
As a consequence of the fatal knife attack in Mannheim, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the deportation of serious criminals to Afghanistan and Syria would be permitted again. “Such criminals should be deported – even if they come from Syria and Afghanistan,” said the SPD politician in the Bundestag. And: “Serious criminals and terrorist threats have no place here.” The Federal Ministry of the Interior is working on the practical implementation and is already in talks with Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, he said. Germany had completely stopped deportations to Afghanistan shortly before the Taliban took power in the summer of 2021.
The “Spiegel” reported that the Foreign Office, which is accompanying the talks through the German ambassador Tilo Klinner, continues to view the deportations of Afghans critically, even if they are to take place via a neighboring country. The background to this is fears that the deportees face reprisals in their home country.