"My idea is that we make agreements directly with Afghanistan
to enable repatriations," said in an interview with the news magazine,
Focus.
"We still need third parties to conduct talks with
Afghanistan. This cannot remain a permanent solution."
In August last year, Germany resumed flying convicted Afghan
nationals back to Afghanistan after suspending deportations after the Taliban
returned to power in 2021.
Berlin said those flights were facilitated with the support
of "key regional partners". But now, Germany wants to do this
directly in cooperation with the Taliban in Kabul.
In the interview, Dobrindt said Berlin is also in contact
with Damascus in a bid to reach an agreement on the deportation of Syrian
migrants convicted of crimes in Germany.
Dobrindt represents the conservative Christian Social Union
(CSU), the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian
Democratic Union (CDU).
Merz has pledged to deport people to Syria and Afghanistan,
as well as stop refugee admission programs for former local staff of German
agencies in the latter.
The admission programs were set up after the Taliban
takeover was said to be a direct threat to their lives due to possible
retaliation.
Migration was a key issue as Germans headed to the polls to
vote in February's snap federal elections following the rise of the far right
and several high-profile attacks by migrants.
Syrians and Afghans make up the two largest groups of asylum
seekers in Germany, with 76,765 Syrians and 34,149 Afghans applying for asylum
last year, according to official figures.
On Friday, the United Nations criticized plans to strike a
deal with the Taliban to return migrants to Afghanistan.
Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the United Nations Human
Rights Office, told reporters in Geneva it was "not appropriate to return
people to Afghanistan."
"We have been documenting continuing human rights
violations in Afghanistan," she said, highlighting severe restrictions on
women's rights and executions.
Arafat Jamal of the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) in Kabul said
his organization still had a "non-return advisory" in place for
Afghanistan.
"In other words ... the conditions on the ground are
not yet ready for returns," he said. "We urge countries not to
forcibly return to Afghanistan."
Germany does not recognize the Taliban government since its
takeover in 2021 after NATO troops withdrew from the country and maintains no
official diplomatic ties with Kabul.
On Friday, Russia became the first country in the world to
formally recognize the Taliban government and establish full diplomatic links
with Kabul.
Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi stated that
he hoped the move would serve as an example to other countries, but it was
criticized by opposition figures and human rights groups.
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