Free Republic

As more Afghan provinces fall into the hands of the Taliban, a debate on migration is underway in the European Union, with Germany and the Netherlands stopping deportations of failed Afghan asylum-seekers, and other countries asking for deportations to continue. Minister of State at Germany’s Foreign Ministry, Niels Annen, told Germany’s Funke Mediengruppe Thursday that it was “naïve” to believe that the advance of the Taliban and the violence in Afghanistan would have no consequences for migration policy “We will feel the effects in Germany as well, even if not in the coming weeks,” Annen said. An EU official on...

Germany will not declare Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement a terrorist organization, a top official said Friday. Deputy Minister in the Foreign Ministry Niels Annen told news magazine Der Spiegel that the Iran-backed Shiite Islamist movement is a relevant factor in Lebanese society and part of the complex political landscape in the country. The comments come after Britain last month banned Hezbollah’s political wing, accusing the movement of destabilizing the Middle East. “The British move is a national decision that has no direct impact on the position of the German government or the EU,’ said Annen. The European Union had already added...