The linked article refers to a video about a meeting in Brussel which "centered on a potential deal to return failed asylum seekers to Afghanistan". The video says:

"About 20 of the EU's 27 member states have expressed interest in returning some migrants without a right to stay to Afghanistan. Some governments have pushed ahead with Germany deporting more than a hundred Afghans with criminal convictions since 2024 and Austria following suit."

This needs to be updated:

Meanwhile, Germany has ended the restriction on Afghan criminals which means that the federal states of Germany are now allowed to return all Afghans who meet the criteria "male, of legal age, single, and subject to an enforceable order to leave the country".

Another issue: Government engagement with the Taliban:

Markus Lammert, an EU Commission spokesman, says in the video: "The EU is mandated by the council to maintain operational engagement with de facto authorities in Afghanistan. This does not mean recognition." Germany is in line with that, using the terms "technische Kontakte" (operational engagement) and "De-facto-Herrschaft".

In practice that means that Talibans are involved the deportation process. Anyone who is deported needs a passport. The Afghans are forced to meet a representative of the Afghan Embassy whose job it is to verify their identity and to issue a passport. After taking power in 2021, the Taliban replaced the embassy staff with their own people. This allows the Taliban to influence who is deported and the Afghans are forced to meet their persecutors.

Since 2021, the German government no longer classifies the Taliban as a "terrorist organization". The logic behind this is that the Taliban are no longer violating the state order, because the state order is now the Taliban's order.

For more please see this German post.

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