German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has rejected accusations that his government is normalizing relations with the Islamist Taliban governing Afghanistan, insisting that any cooperation was strictly technical and in Germany's national interest.
"We are not normalizing this regime," Merz said on Wednesday during a government question-and-answer session in the lower house of parliament, or Bundestag, responding to a challenge from the Greens.
Diplomatic relations existed between states, not between governments, he said, adding that Germany had always maintained diplomatic relations with Afghanistan.
"We are not extending a hand to this Taliban regime; Rather, cooperation is being sought at the necessary technical level that serves the national interest of our country," Merz said.
The government was engaging at the lowest conceivable technical level to enable the repatriation of male Afghan nationals who had committed criminal offences in Germany. "And that will continue to be the case," he added.
Merz: Interior minister has my full support
Merz said Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt was holding talks with representatives of the government in Kabul on the repatriation of male Afghan nationals who had committed criminal offences in Germany. "He has my full and unreserved support for what he is doing there," Merz said.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office in Berlin said on Monday that up to four additional diplomats from the Taliban administration in Afghanistan were to come to Germany to allow more deportations to the country.
Additional Afghan consular officials were needed, for example to issue more passports. The government would vet them carefully before granting them visas, the spokesman said.
