Germany to open talks with Taliban on deporting Afghans, interior minister says

BERLIN

Germany plans to begin direct talks with the Taliban in October on deporting Afghan nationals with criminal convictions or deemed security threats, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Sunday.

“Deportations to Afghanistan must be able to take place regularly. That’s why we are now negotiating directly in Kabul so that criminals and threats are consistently deported in the future,” Dobrindt told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag.

A spokesperson for the Federal Interior Ministry confirmed to the paper that senior officials will travel to Kabul next month to discuss deportations with Taliban authorities.

Dobrindt said two weeks ago that he expected such talks to start soon, noting that until now discussions had taken place only “at a technical level with Afghan representatives” without specifying where.

The visit would mark a significant shift. Germany has had no formal diplomatic relations with the Taliban since the group took power in August 2021, and Berlin closed its embassy in Kabul after the fall of the Western-backed government.

Since the Taliban takeover, Germany has twice deported groups of Afghans with the assistance of Qatar. In August 2024, when the coalition of Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats was still in power, 28 convicted criminals were returned to Kabul. In July the same year, a plane carried 81 men convicted of crimes including homicide, sexual assault, acts of violence and drug offenses.

Berlin has long debated resuming broader deportations, weighing public concern over crime against security and humanitarian considerations.