Flight to deport Afghan migrants from Germany canceled; Taliban accused of interference.

Kabul Times News | Report: Shahbanu Noori

German media reported that the Taliban have prevented a special flight to return a number of Afghan migrants from Germany to Afghanistan; a move that, according to informed sources, is linked to the group’s political and diplomatic requests to the German government.

According to a report by the German network “NDR”, a flight that was supposed to transport a number of Afghan citizens without residency rights to Afghanistan last week was stopped in the final stages due to opposition from the Taliban. It is said that these people were not considered eligible to continue their presence in Germany due to violating residency laws or committing various crimes.

Informed sources have told German media that the Taliban have conditioned their continued cooperation in accepting deported migrants on increasing the level of presence and activity of their representatives in Germany. According to these sources, the Taliban are trying to use the Afghan migrant case as a tool to expand political and diplomatic interactions with European countries.

Currently, two representatives nominated by the Taliban are present in the Afghan missions in Berlin and Bonn. These individuals were initially introduced to assist in the process of identifying and returning Afghan refugees, but reports indicate that their role in managing the affairs of these missions has gradually expanded.

This development occurs in a situation where a number of civil society activists, human rights organizations and Afghan political figures have warned against any normalization of official relations between European countries and the Taliban. They believe that the expansion of political interactions with the Taliban should be done in light of the human rights situation, women's rights and civil liberties in Afghanistan.

Migration experts believe that the suspension of this flight shows that the issue of returning Afghan refugees from Europe has acquired more political dimensions than in the past and may affect the future course of relations between Germany and the Taliban.