Kabul urges Europe to halt deportations due to insecurity

dpa Kabul Kabul has officially requested that European countries halt the compulsory deportation of Afghan asylum seekers for the next three months, star...

dpa Kabul Kabul has officially requested that European countries halt the compulsory deportation of Afghan asylum seekers for the next three months, starting from July 8, the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation announced on Saturday.Considering the increase in the Taliban’s violence and a significant increase in Covid-19 infections, the deportation of Afghan refugees from hosted countries is worrying, the ministry said in a statement. In addition, Kabul says that it is concerned about the increase in internally displaced people and a new wave of asylum seekers to foreign countries.Currently, many European countries are deporting rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to the war-ravaged country.There are regular group deportations from Germany to Kabul, for example.On Wednesday, 27 Afghan men arrived in the capital Kabul after being deported from Germany, marking the 40th group deportation flight from Germany to Afghanistan since December 2016.Berlin has now returned a total of 1,104 failed asylum seekers to Afghanistan.The deportations have been deeply controversial, with critics saying the war-torn country is too dangerous to send asylum seekers back to.The US-led withdrawal of international troops that started on May 1 has left the country in a state of uncertainty.Almost daily attacks and an increase in military offensives by Taliban militants are taking a toll on civilians. The Islamic State militia is also active in the country.Despite on-and-off peace talks, the conflict between the Taliban and the Afghan government continues and the security situation is deteriorating.  Afghanistan has been a battleground for four decades.