German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

Ben Kew – The Gateway Pundit June 9, 2024

The German government has declined an offer from the Taliban to repatriate Afghan migrants convicted of crimes on the grounds that it would indicate recognition of the Islamist regime.

The offer from the Taliban government follows the murder of a police officer by an Afghan national in a senseless knife attack in the southwest city of Manheim.

Following the attack last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz initially indicated that he wanted to deport violent criminals, even to dangerous countries such as Syria and Afghanistan. “Such criminals should be deported – even if they come from Syria and Afghanistan,” Scholz told the Bundestag or lower house of parliament.

There is currently a ban on deporting migrants back to Afghanistan since the Taliban took back control of the country back in 2021.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Kahar Balchi expressed openness to the idea, posting on the X platform: “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls upon the German authorities to address through normal consular engagement and an appropriate mechanism based on bilateral agreement.”

However, the Germany Foreign Ministry has since played down the idea, stating that it refuses to work with a government it does not recognize.

“The Taliban will want to have any repatriations paid for at least through international recognition,” a spokesman for Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in Berlin. “And it is a fact that the German government does not recognize the de facto Taliban government in Afghanistan, just like any other country in the world, and does not cooperate with it.”

According to InfoMigrants, there are around 400,000 Afghans currently living in Germany. Around 33,000 of those have entered the country since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021.

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