Germany urges protection for Afghans with admission promises held in Pakistan

Pakistan has arrested Afghans with German admission promises and has already deported some of them to their home country. The German government is in “high-level contact” with the Pakistani government to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.

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The aim is to “ensure the protection and safety of these particularly vulnerable persons” and to enable those who have already been deported to Afghanistan to return “in compliance with Pakistani residence regulations.”

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In the case of those arrested by Pakistani authorities, “we are working to secure their release and continued care by our service provider on the ground,” the statement continued. The Foreign Office is monitoring the situation of Afghan nationals from the reception programs in Pakistan “with great concern.”

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According to the Kabul Airlift Initiative, which campaigns for the evacuation of Afghans under threat, there are around 2,300 people in Pakistan with legally binding promises of admission. This includes around 1,700 women and children. They are all waiting to leave for Germany. Pakistani security forces have already arrested hundreds of these people, the initiative said on Thursday. It also said it had “dozens of reports of deportations to Afghanistan.”

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The initiative is calling on the German government to “immediately issue visas to all Afghan asylum seekers with German admission commitments and bring them to Germany.” Those who have already been deported to Afghanistan must also be brought back to Pakistan, and those detained there must be released “immediately.”

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After the radical Islamic Taliban conquered Afghanistan in August 2021, the federal government launched admission programs to enable particularly vulnerable Afghans to be permanently admitted to Germany on humanitarian grounds. However, in their coalition agreement, the CDU/CSU and SPD agreed to end the admission programs “as far as possible.”

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A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior confirmed this on Wednesday and added that they were “now examining” what the agreement in the coalition agreement meant for the individual federal admission programs. She expects “prompt decisions” on this matter.

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