Germany Holds Talks with Taliban Over Large-Scale Deportations

By Staff, Agencies

Germany is negotiating with the Taliban to establish a framework that would allow for the mass deportation of Afghan nationals, the German daily Bild has revealed.

According to the report, officials from Berlin have already engaged in direct discussions with Taliban representatives in Qatar and are preparing to dispatch a delegation to Kabul for further talks.

Germany suspended deportations to Afghanistan in 2021 after the Taliban takeover following the chaotic US withdrawal. Although the ban was lifted last year, deportations have remained limited.

Charter flights returned 28 Afghans in August 2024 and 81 more in July 2025, all of whom had criminal convictions, Bild noted.

Now, the government reportedly seeks to make expulsions “significantly easier, more regular, and more massive,” transitioning from chartered planes to scheduled commercial flights.

Interior Ministry officials met Taliban representatives in Qatar in early September and are expected to pursue further negotiations in Kabul.

Berlin has not officially acknowledged the talks with the Taliban and has so far declined to comment on the report.

The policy shift follows a deadly stabbing at a street festival in Solingen in August 2024, where a Syrian national killed three and injured eight others. In the aftermath, pressure mounted on the government to tighten deportation measures.

Citing government data, Bild reported that Afghan nationals were involved in 108,409 serious crimes in Germany between 2015 and 2024. As of late 2024, roughly 461,000 people of Afghan descent were living in the country, including 347,600 asylum seekers.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has also identified around 11,500 Afghans who have no legal right to remain in Germany and are subject to deportation.