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Austria's Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP)
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LISI NIESNER / REUTERS
In Kabul, people desperately cling to starting machines, the streets of the Afghan capital are at times full of fleeing people.
Austria does not see the situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power as a reason for taking in more refugees.
"Illegal migration, which runs through a dozen safe countries, and where migrants simply choose a destination country, must be stopped," said Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) of "Welt" before consultations with the EU interior ministers. "There is no reason why an Afghan should come to Austria now." Instead, the top priority is now "to talk to the neighboring countries of Afghanistan so that protection and aid is ensured in the region."
After their rapid conquest, the Taliban effectively took power in Afghanistan on Sunday, which is why many people fear a return to the Islamists' earlier reign of terror.
Almost 20 years after the invasion of Afghanistan by Western troops, the militant Islamists have returned to power.
Tens of thousands of people are currently trying to flee the country because they fear a return to rule based on the draconian rules of fundamentalist Islam, as practiced by the Taliban between 1996 and 2001.
"Additional admission can't be a big issue"
Nehammer pointed out that Austria had granted protection to more than 130,000 people in the past five years, making it third among the EU member states. "Since then, just under 35,000 of these people have come from Afghanistan - the majority of them are young men who are often poorly educated or illiterate and pose a major challenge to the integration and social system," said the conservative politician. "That alone clearly shows that the discussion about additional admission cannot be a big topic for Austria."
Nehammer also wants to hold on to deportations of Afghans.
"If deportations are no longer possible due to the limits set by the European Convention on Human Rights, we as the European Union must think of alternatives," he said.
"Deportation centers in the region around Afghanistan would be a possibility." He wanted to present this proposal on Wednesday at the consultations with his EU colleagues.
mrc / dpa / AFP