RASC News Agency: Germany’s Green Party has issued a stark warning over the political consequences of both the federal government’s decision to resume deportations of Afghanistani asylum seekers and its growing engagement with the Taliban. Senior party figures caution that even limited contact with the extremist group could lend it unwarranted legitimacy. Omid Nouripour, Deputy Speaker of the Bundestag and one of the most prominent figures within the Greens, voiced grave concerns on Sunday, July 28, about the implications of repatriation flights coordinated with Taliban authorities. Nouripour, who has Iranian roots, stated:
“Any official or technical contact with the Taliban represents a deeply troubling step toward the normalization of relations with a terrorist group. Coordinating return flights to Kabul risks incrementally legitimizing a regime that thrives on repression and terror.”
Nouripour has formally requested clarification from the German Foreign Ministry regarding a recent deportation flight from Leipzig to Kabul, which transported 81 Afghanistani nationals. According to the Interior Ministry, those deported had criminal records in Germany. However, German media later revealed that several of the individuals were reportedly undergoing psychiatric treatment raising ethical concerns over their forced repatriation to a country now under the grip of a brutal theocratic regime. This marks only the second large-scale deportation of Afghanistani asylum seekers since the Taliban’s violent return to power in August 2021. The German Foreign Ministry admitted that the flight was facilitated through Qatari mediation but also confirmed that it had engaged in “technical coordination” with Taliban representatives an admission that has drawn sharp criticism from human rights advocates and legal experts.
The federal government insists these interactions are solely for ensuring legal procedures in deporting convicted individuals. Yet critics argue that such dealings offer the Taliban a veneer of international legitimacy without demanding accountability for their egregious human rights violations, particularly their systematic oppression of women, ethnic minorities, and dissidents. Felix Banaszak, another leading Green politician, had previously condemned the deportation initiative as a “performative policy with perilous consequences.” He warned that sending convicted individuals back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan could bolster the regime’s ranks and potentially create a pathway for radicalized returnees to re-enter Europe, posing security risks in the future.
Meanwhile, public outrage has intensified following the federal government’s quiet approval of two Taliban-appointed consular officials to assume management of Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions in Germany. This move has provoked fierce political debate and protests. Legal experts, human rights organizations, and many members of the Afghanistani diaspora have condemned the decision as a de facto step toward normalizing ties with a regime that remains unrecognized by Germany and most of the international community. Protesters including recently deported asylum seekers have staged demonstrations outside the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, demanding transparency and a reversal of policies they see as betraying Germany’s commitments to justice, human dignity, and international law.
