France is holding “technical discussions” with Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities on returning Afghan irregular migrants, its interior minister said Monday.
“We are trying to obtain the possibility to return a certain number of Afghans who are in an irregular situation. These are technical discussions,” Laurent Nunez told the French parliament.
“Other countries are doing this, Germany is doing this,” he said.
AFP first reported in early October that, according to a French diplomatic source, France had begun talks with the Taliban government to “facilitate” the deportation of Afghans to Afghanistan.
Nunez, responding to questions by lawmakers about the subject, confirmed the discussions.
France does not formally recognise, or maintain diplomatic relations with, the Taliban government formed after the armed group took power in 2021.
But it has joined about 20 EU countries including Germany, Belgium and Sweden to speed up the return of Afghans, specifically those who have been convicted by courts.
A “certain number” of Afghans “might constitute threats to public order, so it is my priority to see that we are able to deport these people”, Nunez said.
One lawmaker, Lea Balage El Mariky, with The Ecologists party, accused the French government of “starting the normalisation of diplomatic relations with a regime that is committing a crime against humanity” by what she called “gender apartheid”.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Afghanistan’s Supreme Taliban Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, the head of Afghanistan’s supreme court and two education ministers on accusations they committed crimes against humanity through restrictions on women and girls.
A meeting in Brussels in June between a Taliban delegation and officials from 15 EU countries was condemned by several rights groups and leftwing European Parliament lawmakers. The talks focused on cracking down on irregular migration and on boosting deportations.
UN rights chief Volker Turk in September decried a “deafening” international silence over Afghanistan’s deepening rights and humanitarian crisis, and demanded a halt to forced returns to the country.
The Taliban authorities have imposed a ban on girls aged over 12 continuing their education and barring women from higher education.
est/eva/mpm/rmb/ach
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
