Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has suspended deportations from Germany to Afghanistan until further notice.
This was announced by the Federal Ministry of the Interior on Wednesday afternoon after a spokesman for the ministry had stated shortly before that, in principle, it was adhered to at least sending delinquent Afghans back to Afghanistan without a right to stay.
Johannes Leithäuser
Political correspondent in Berlin.
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The day before, a controversy arose from the fact that, on the one hand, the diplomats from those EU states present in Kabul pleaded for the suspension of deportations from Europe, while on the other hand, six EU states wrote to the EU Commission in writing at the same time to ask them to continue to help with the technical handling of deportation flights.
In addition to Germany, the six states also included the Netherlands, which also announced on Wednesday that they would no longer allow deportations to Afghanistan.
Amnesty International and two dozen other humanitarian organizations had previously asked the German government to end the deportation practice because of the constantly deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior had long argued that a general ban on deportation would only be an option if the person concerned was threatened with life and limb everywhere in their home country, and that this was not the case in Afghanistan.
Nevertheless, the German authorities decided to stop the last deportation flight to Afghanistan, which was supposed to bring six men to Kabul, immediately before departure after several terrorist attacks had taken place in Kabul and the security situation near the airport was unclear.
The Federal Foreign Office has meanwhile announced that it is working on an “ad hoc” update of the situation report on Afghanistan.
This report provides an essential basis for assessment by the German authorities and courts, which have to assess the security situation in Afghanistan before the deportations.
According to reports from northeast Afghanistan, the provincial capital Faisabad in Badachschan has now also fallen into the hands of the Taliban.
This means that large parts of the northern provinces are now under their control, which in recent years belonged to the area of responsibility of the Bundeswehr contingent in northern Afghanistan.
Federal Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced on Wednesday that in order to be able to fly out the endangered Afghan local staff, who worked as interpreters and helpers for the German Armed Forces, more quickly, it will be considered that they will only be given the required visas after they have entered Germany.
However, the Afghan authorities still insist that those concerned apply for and receive an Afghan passport document beforehand.