German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere has promised Afghanistan financial help to help reintegrate returned migrants.
Speaking during a visit to Kabul on February 1, de Maiziere said most Afghans who go to Germany were not motivated by security fears but wanted a better life.
He said that was “understandable” from a humanitarian point of view but it “doesn’t give them the right to protection” in Germany.
De Maiziere’s visit to Kabul was overshadowed by the latest in a series of deadly suicide bomb attacks -- an explosion near the parliament building and a police station that, according to Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, killed 20 and wounded at least 20 others.
Speaking about the 850 German soldiers that remain in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s Resolute Support mission, de Maiziere said they would remain “as long as necessary.”
But he said an exodus of educated Afghans from Afghanistan must be prevented and that the people of Afghanistan should “stay here to build up this country.”