France in Taliban talks on Afghan deportations

France is holding technical talks with Afghanistan's Taliban authorities on returning Afghan irregular migrants, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told parliament.

Nunez said France was seeking the possibility of returning “a certain number” of Afghans in an irregular situation. He said other countries, including Germany, were doing the same.

France does not formally recognise or maintain diplomatic relations with the Taliban government, which was formed after the armed group took power in Afghanistan in 2021.

Nunez said some Afghans “might constitute threats to public order” and that it was his priority to make deportations possible for those people.

France has joined about 20 European Union countries, including Germany, Belgium and Sweden, seeking faster returns of Afghans, especially those convicted by courts.

Lea Balage El Mariky, a lawmaker from The Ecologists party, accused the French government of beginning to normalise diplomatic relations with a regime she said was committing a crime against humanity through 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 of crimes against humanity through restrictions on women and girls.

UN rights chief Volker Turk in September called for a halt to forced returns to Afghanistan, citing the country's rights and humanitarian crisis.