Markel: Afghan refugees to be returned to Afghanistan

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Afghans coming to Germany in pursuit of better economic circumstances will be sent back to Afghanistan.

In a joint news conference with visiting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Berlin, Merkel said Germany would meet its humanitarian obligations for Afghans who are in “acute” danger because they worked for foreign forces, such as the German military.

“We will have to deport people to Afghanistan”, Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the packed joint press conference with her Afghan counterpart in Berlin.

Afghans coming to Germany hoping to improve their living standards did not qualify for asylum. “Where refugees come hoping for a better life – and I know that his hope is big for many – that is no reason to get asylum status or residency status here,” the chancellor said.

Both Ghani and Merkel vowed to create opportunities in Afghanistan: Germany, Merkel said, would support the creation of safe zones inside the country, to provide people who “live in areas of insecurity with a zone where security is high.”

Merkel said Germany would intensify its development work, providing both housing and vocational training in the “safe zones.”

“These are people the country needs,” she added, “they should not be left behind.”

Ghani and Merkel also announced that they would improve their cooperation in training Afghan police forces to better tackle human trafficking and the forging of passports.

So far this year, 124,000 Afghans requested asylum in Europe, according to the UN refugee agency – more than twice as many as in the same period last year.

Afghans are the second-largest group of asylum-seekers in Germany after Syrians, and the fastest growing. One in four asylum-seekers on the West Balkan route across Europe are believed to be Afghans.

There are currently some 7,000 rejected Afghan asylum-seekers living in Germany. They have to renew their status on a regular basis and are not allowed to work.