‘Afghan refugee numbers too high’

Afghan migrants disembark from their boat in bad weather on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey on Wednesday. — AP

Germany’s interior minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Wednesday the rising number of Afghan asylum seekers was “unacceptable”, as he urged young citizens of the south Asian nation to stay at home and rebuild their homeland.

“Afghanistan is in the second place of (asylum seekers’) origin countries in the current month and also for the whole year, that is unacceptable. We are in agreement with the Afghan government that we don’t want that,” Mr De Maiziere said.

“There is an increasing number of citizens from the middle class, also from Kabul, and we are in agreement with the Afghan government that young Afghans from middle class families should stay in their country and rebuild it,” said Mr De Maiziere.

German soldiers and police had been sent to Afghanistan to help “make the country safer”, said the interior minister, adding that “large amounts of development funds” have been sent to the country. “So we can expect the Afghans to remain in their countr.”

“I’m therefore saying clearly today that those who come from Afghanistan as refugees cannot all expect to stay in Germany,” he said.

Mr de Maiziere also said that Germany will return thousands of rejected asylum applicants to the Balkans in the coming months, as Berlin toughens its stance against economic migrants amid a record influx.

“I expect that in the next weeks, the number of repatriations, voluntary returns and deportations will rise significantly,” Mr de Maiziere said.

The federal office for migration and refugees has been tasked with dealing with “many unresolved asylum applications” before Christmas, said the minister, adding “that means that tens of thousands of rejected asylum seekers from the Balkans would have to leave our country”.