Twenty countries pressure EU for more deportations to Afghanistan

Twenty European countries on Saturday called upon the European Commission to provide more options for returning Afghans without residence permits to their home country.

The Dutch government published a letter to this effect addressed to EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner.

In the letter, the signatories complain that last year, 22,870 Afghans received a repatriation decision in the EU, of whom only 435 actually returned to Afghanistan, which is now again under the control of the Islamist Taliban movement.

The countries are demanding that the issue of voluntary and forced return to Afghanistan be addressed as a "joint responsibility" at EU level.

They also called for further possibilities for deportations to Afghanistan to be examined – with priority given to those "who pose a threat to public order or national security."

The letter was signed on Belgium's initiative by Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

Norway, which is not a member of the EU but belongs to the Schengen area and cooperates with the EU asylum agency, also signed.

Germany is currently negotiating with the Taliban about deportations to Afghanistan. According to Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, the talks are "well advanced."

Contacts with the Taliban are controversial because the German government does not officially maintain diplomatic relations with the group, which returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.

The Taliban are internationally isolated because of their disregard for human rights, especially women's rights. Since the group took power, Afghans have been deported from Germany twice with the help of Qatar.