Afghanistan's Taliban authorities have temporarily sent more personnel to Germany under an agreement with the government in Berlin aimed at facilitating the planned deportation of hundreds of Afghans to their home country.
"In order to achieve the objective agreed in the coalition agreement of carrying out repatriations to Afghanistan, documents must be issued that are recognized by the de facto government," the Foreign Office in Berlin stated on Saturday.
To this end, in addition to sufficient staff, the technical requirements must also be in place, particularly if the number of repatriations is to increase, the office said.
"To establish these technical requirements swiftly, a technical support team has entered the country on a short-term basis."
According to the German Interior Ministry, a total of 228 men - mainly offenders - have been deported to Afghanistan since the start of the current legislative period in March last year.
The latest group deportation by plane, carrying 23 people required to leave the country, took off from Leipzig Airport on Tuesday bound for Kabul.
To facilitate the process, the German government had authorized the temporary posting of individual Taliban-appointed diplomats to Afghanistan's diplomatic missions in Germany.
Previously, the missions had been staffed only by diplomats appointed under Afghanistan's former government.
In early June, a planned mass deportation was cancelled because the Taliban authorities refused to cooperate. They had expressed dissatisfaction with what they saw as a lack of willingness by Foreign Office representatives to engage in dialogue.
Critics, including some from the Green Party, have repeatedly reproached the German government for making concessions to facilitate deportations, despite not recognizing the Taliban government, partly because of its human rights violations, especially those affecting women and girls.
