TV Documentary reveals how refugees are holidaying in Afghanistan on a grand scale – German authorities turn a blind eye

An RTL documentary reveals that Afghan refugees are apparently going on holiday to their old homeland on a large scale, even though it is not officially considered a safe country of origin. According to the documentary, the holiday trips are organised by German travel agencies. Federal Minister of the Interior Faeser does not consider herself responsible.

Germany is on summer holidays and half the country is at a standstill. Those who still have holiday days are sitting somewhere on the beach, by the lake or in the mountains. But what is an annual pleasure for some in the country is officially only possible to a limited extent for others. According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Afghan refugees, for example, are only allowed to travel to their home country in exceptional cases.

Which is understandable; after all, they came here precisely because they were persecuted and threatened in their home country. Afghanistan is officially considered so dangerous that Germany is not even allowed to send convicted criminals back there. Who would want to go on holiday there voluntarily?

According to research by RTLextra, however, this is exactly what happens, and it happens frequently: Afghan refugees go to their old homeland to see what’s going on, visit relatives there and have fun. Even so-called local forces are among those willing to travel – those former Bundeswehr helpers that Germany took out of Afghanistan after the Taliban took power because they are considered to be particularly at risk.

Afghan refugees report this in a research interview with RTL reporter Liv von Boetticher: ‘Many Afghans from Europe are currently going back on holiday.’ There are also clips on TikTok and other social media that tell of relaxed days in Afghanistan.

According to RTL’s research, various travel agencies support the refugees in planning the illegal trip via Iran to Afghanistan. The required visa – a so-called ‘double-entry visa’ – consists of a loose sheet of paper that can be easily removed from the passport after the journey. Anyone who has ever tried to simply keep their Austrian vignette in their wallet instead of sticking it to their windscreen will be amazed: a visa as a loose-leaf collection sounds a lot like a banana republic.

All of this is frightening. Even more frightening, however, is how Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser reacted when RTLextra confronted her with the research findings: Preventing travel with the ‘double-entry visa’ is not her job, but that of the local immigration authorities. The local authorities claim that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees is responsible.

The authority ultimately passes the buck back to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. And the federal police? They claim that they are primarily responsible for immigration control at the airport; there are not enough staff to carry out additional checks on travellers leaving the country.

In extreme cases, refugees who travel to their country of origin without a comprehensible reason lose their protection and residence status. However, when asked how often the state has pulled this card in recent years, Thorsten Frei, Vice-Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group for domestic and legal policy, simply replied that it was not known. Because no statistics are kept on this.

Germany is – once again – making a fool of itself internationally with such behaviour. Taking in people who can demonstrably no longer be sure of their lives in their home country is a humanitarian imperative. But despite all empathy, it must be expected that a certain number of free riders will always set off. And then spend the next few years on holiday at state expense – both here and, apparently, in their old home country. A country of origin that is not safe cannot also be a holiday paradise.

Taking care of people in need of protection who no longer have any need for protection at all: Germany can and should no longer afford to do this. And above all for reasons of humanity. Because as migration researcher Ruud Koopmans emphasises: ‘All the resources we spend on people who don’t actually need this protection can no longer be used for people who do need our protection.’

Doku enthüllt, wie Geflüchtete in Afghanistan Urlaub machen – Behörden schauen weg – FOCUS online