KABUL, Afghanistan – The German interior minister Nancy Faeser has reiterated her country’s plan to deport Afghan citizens residing in Germany who have committed serious crimes.
“We are doing everything possible to consistently deport Islamist perpetrators of violence,” the German interior minister said on Sunday, July 28, as reported by Deutsche Welle (DW). “We are confidentially negotiating with several governments to reinstate these deportations to Afghanistan and Syria.”
Faeser emphasized that Germany’s security interests outweigh the interests of those affected by this policy, adding that Afghans who pose a serious national threat will be sent back through their neighboring countries.
This reinstatement comes following a harrowing knife attack in Mannheim in May that resulted in the death of a police officer and injuries to four others.
The assailant, who attacked a gathering of “Pax Europa,” a far-right group that opposes Islam in Europe, was a resident of Heppenheim, a 25-year-old man born in Afghanistan, who has lived in Germany since he was 15.
Earlier this month, German police arrested another young Afghan immigrant for allegedly attacking and injuring a Ukrainian woman with a knife in Frankfurt.
While Germany has refrained from deporting migrants to Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in 2021 because of the precarious security situation, the Mannheim attack has prompted some German officials to call for the deportation of “criminal” refugees.
The German newspaper Bild reported that the Social Democratic Party and several other parties advocate for the return of “foreign criminals” like Sulaiman Ataei, the knife-wielding attacker, and other dangerous individuals to their home countries, even if these countries are not considered safe.
According to Bild, due to the lack of contact between Germany and the Taliban government in Afghanistan, Germany is negotiating with neighboring countries to facilitate the transfer of deported individuals to Afghanistan.
