Photo: Mstyslav Chernov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Afghan embassy in Berlin is still operational and able to help with deportation orders—despite claims to the contrary by Germany’s green-party-controlled foreign ministry—according to the tabloid Bild. Reports indicate that the authorities are being deceptive, rather than admit that the former Afghan ambassador still works in Berlin. In fact, he retains diplomatic recognition and may sign off on deportation documents for Afghans in Germany illegally.
Germany and most European countries not recognising the resurgent Taliban regime in Kabul has been a major sticking point for returning failed asylum seekers. Berlin is currently negotiating with Afghanistan’s northern neighbour Uzbekistan as an intermediary, aiming to help start deportations rather than deal directly with the Taliban.
It is not the first time Germany’s foreign ministry has been accused of turning a blind eye to asylum abuses. In March last year, Berlin’s top diplomatic official to Pakistan, Alfred Grannas, publicly complained that asylum applications from Afghanistan were being fast- tracked without proper oversight, allowing numerous Salafists to enter Germany.
Germany is still struggling to deal with an influx of Afghan refugees following the collapse of the American-backed government in Kabul in 2021. Estimates compiled last year suggest that approximately 400,000 Afghans are currently living in Germany.
The massive influx of Afghans has been linked to multiple high-profile crimes in Germany, including the attempted assassination of a right-wing speaker by a knife-wielding refugee that left one police officer dead just last month.
The murder in the town of Mannheim prompted discussion in the German Bundestag, aiming to hasten deportation procedures for the over 200,000 illegal aliens who have received orders to leave the country. Even Chancellor Olaf Scholz made rhetorical gestures about returning failed asylum seekers by suggesting deporting them to Syria. The vague proposals would even extend to criminals, a deportation process suspended since 2011, on account of the Syrian civil war.
Green Party representatives such as Omid Nouripour have claimed that any prospective asylum deal with the Taliban should be prohibited due to the risk of foreign aid making its way into the hands of an Islamist regime. The right-wing populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) sees the decade-long migration crisis as a key national problem, obviously reflecting the feeling of a large number of Germans, as the populist party’s vote was strengthened in last month’s elections to the European Parliament where it finished in an unprecedented second place.
Europe’s and Germany’s Afghan asylum woes are expected to get much worse in the coming weeks and months. Pakistan is commencing the mass deportation of Afghan refugees in response to an Islamist insurgency gaining ground on its western frontiers. Some 800,000 refugees are expected to be expelled.