Germany’s Green Party leadership is escalating concerns over potential deportation agreements being negotiated with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, triggering a fierce internal debate and raising significant questions about Berlin’s foreign policy strategy. Omid Nouripour, the Bundestag’s Vice-President and a prominent Green politician, has issued a stark warning against formalizing any such accord, characterizing the Taliban as “terrorists who murder without remorse.
Nouripour, in comments to the German news portal “T-Online”, argued that signing a formal agreement would represent a final, irreversible step towards recognizing the Taliban’s legitimacy – a “monumental error” with potentially serious security implications for Germany itself. He emphasized that legitimizing terrorist organizations on the international stage carries inherent risks.
The concerns are being echoed by fellow Green politicians, including Bahar Haghanipour, Vice-President of the Berlin House of Representatives, who, alongside others, has submitted a motion for debate at the Green Party’s national convention at the end of November. Haghanipour highlighted the Taliban’s reign of fear and oppression in Afghanistan, specifically pointing to the systematic disenfranchisement of women and girls, denying them education and employment and marginalizing them from public life. She emphatically stated that normalizing a terrorist regime would further jeopardize the lives of Afghan women and girls, rather than honoring their bravery and assisting them in reclaiming their freedoms.
While the German government officially maintains no diplomatic relations with the Taliban, who seized power in August 2021 and the regime faces international isolation due to pervasive human rights abuses, two groups of Afghan nationals have already been deported from Germany, facilitated through Qatar. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the CSU has been actively pursuing negotiations with Kabul to enable regular deportations, recently suggesting that talks were nearing conclusion.
This burgeoning controversy exposes a deepening rift within the Green Party, traditionally a strong advocate for human rights and refugees. The potential deportation agreements are drawing accusations of a pragmatic but morally questionable willingness to compromise principles in pursuit of administrative ease. Critics argue that such deals risk undermining Germany’s credibility on the global stage and potentially embolden the Taliban’s repressive policies. The internal motion and ensuing debate, will likely shape the Green Party’s stance on Afghanistan and pressure the government to justify its increasingly precarious diplomatic balancing act.
