If Faridoun Tofan had not taken the bus to Italy, things might have been very different. His intention was to go on a short trip to Rome. The 46-year-old – who had fled the Taliban to Germany just four years earlier and had been working and learning languages since then – was detained during a border check in mid-April and taken straight to a deportation detention center in Munich.
Reason: Tofan did not have the legal right to leave Germany. His asylum application was rejected; He only had a temporary residence permit, which does not protect against deportation. He can now be sent back to Kabul, even though he is neither a convicted criminal nor classified as a security threat. His asylum application appeal was definitively rejected in July, and he is now scheduled to be deported.
Toofan’s wife and six children are still living in Kabul. Nina Alizadeh Marandi told DW that Taliban officials recently met with her and said they have been living in constant fear since then and their sons no longer dare to go to school. He is an asylum law expert at the human rights organization Amnesty International in Germany and in close contact with Tofan’s lawyer.
Taliban officials’ interest in the Tofan family in Kabul came after Faridoon Tofan’s meeting with Afghan Consulate staff in Berlin. Both the embassy in the German capital and the Afghan Consulate General in Bonn are now under Taliban control – a situation for which the German government has faced heavy criticism from the opposition and human rights organisations.
Although the German government does not officially recognize the Taliban administration as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, it points to maintaining contacts at a purely “technical level”.
deportation precedent
This week, another Afghan national with no criminal record was deported.
The flight – operated by Freebird Airlines using an Airbus A320-214 – took off from East Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport at 1:43 a.m. on Tuesday, bound for Trabzon, Turkey, before heading to Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghan national with no criminal record was on the plane with 30 convicted criminals.
This set a precedent that triggered vigorous protests: 260 people responded to the call of the Anti-Racism Coalition and came to demonstrate inside the airport’s departure hall with a police escort.
Luca Müller, a spokesman for the anti-racism group, also referenced the deadly terrorist attack on a Pride event in Berlin over the weekend: “While the Islamist violence targeting Berlin’s pride celebration is being condemned from all sides, the federal government is supporting the Islamic Taliban through its deals,” Müller said.
By “deal”, Müller is referring to allegations made by a number of human rights organizations and the political opposition that the German government is actually legalizing the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in order to facilitate more deportations.
Interior Minister justified the tough stance
What critics see as a violation of a fundamental taboo, others see as nothing more than a quick implementation of existing law. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told reporters again this week that anyone who has gone through the asylum process that resulted in rejection is required to leave the country and should expect deportation if they do not depart voluntarily. Dobrindt, who is a member of Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), said the federal government is simply pursuing its own goals in migration policy, pursuing this “change in migration policy” with “control, a clear course and a firm stance”, Dobrindt said.
Has the security situation improved in Afghanistan?
Since deportations to Afghanistan resumed in 2024, Germany has repatriated more than 200 individuals. According to Amnesty International, at least one of them died after reaching Kabul.
However, the German government assessment points to United Nations Migration Agency (IOM)Which makes the return of men to Afghanistan theoretically possible again.
“The security situation in Afghanistan has significantly improved; this is an objective fact,” Mihyung Park, IOM’s country chief in Kabul, told the media outlet. Editorial Network Germany. Park added a warning: “Under the current circumstances, we would strongly advise women against returning to Afghanistan.”
However, in general, UN agencies warn against involuntary returns, noting that returnees are highly dependent on support to resettle in their country of origin.
Amnesty International condemns the German government for further tightening its deportation practices without regard to the disastrous human rights situation in Afghanistan. Nina Alizadeh Marandi points out that this week’s historic deportation coincides with the 75th anniversary of the adoption. Geneva Refugee Convention.
Alizadeh Marandi said, “Human rights standards should not be dismantled simply because it is politically inconvenient to maintain them.” “Amnesty calls on the federal government to refrain from further deportations and to monitor whether Afghans who have already been deported are able to remain in Afghanistan without persecution or threat to life and limb,” she said.
Opposition said ‘dangerous wrong turn’
Germany’s political opposition has also sharply criticized the first deportation of an Afghan national with no criminal record. “It is irresponsible that Alexander Dobrindt is now sending people to Afghanistan who have done nothing wrong here,” said Marcel Emmerich, the Green Party’s parliamentary spokesman on internal policy.
Emmerich said that Dobrindt’s “dirty deal” regarding deportations strengthens the Taliban, “makes us vulnerable to blackmail, and weakens Germany’s own security.” He said the federal government is taking a “dangerous wrong turn” with this Afghanistan policy.
Julian Nagel, a lawmaker for the Socialist Left party in the parliament of the eastern state of Saxony, called the flight “shameful” and demanded that Saxony’s Leipzig/Halle airport – which is largely state-owned – no longer be used for deportations to Afghanistan.
This article was translated from German.