KABUL - Deputy Minister of Justice of Norway Jøran Kallmyr and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tore Hattrem met with President Ashraf Ghani, CEO Abdullah Abdullah and a number of ministers in Kabul on Sunday over the Norwegian refugee crisis – specifically that of Afghan's seeking asylum in their country.
Talks were centered around the Afghan refugees that have made their way across Russia to the Scandinavian country. Following the meetings, a decision was taken to repatriate about 90 percent of all recent Afghan arrivals in Norway. However, the exact number of refugees has not been made clear.
According to both ministers an agreement was reached between Kabul and Oslo to repatriate the migrants.
In turn they called on Afghans not to make their way to Norway as they will not be accepted.
Hattrem said at a press conference after the meetings that the two deputy ministers visited Kabul
"Important for the credibility of the asylum system is that asylum seekers who do not qualify for assistance permits return home," he said.
"It is the responsibility of the country of citizenship to receive them," he added.
He said he had held good talks with senior officials including Ghani and Abdullah on these issues.
"And we welcome the recent statement from the president's office that Afghanistan is obliged to accept its citizens whose asylum applications have been rejected."
"We appreciate and look forward to continued cooperation with the government and all the relevant partners on migration and returns."
This comes after Norwegian media reported recently that the vast majority of refugees streaming into Norway over its northern border with Russia don't qualify for asylum and will be sent back, either to Russia or their homelands.
According to local media reports, Kallmyr said most of the roughly 4,000 asylum seekers who have already arrived from Russia will likely be deported.
Kallmyr said last week that Norway intends to halt the influx of asylum seekers over the Russian border. After registering only 10 asylum seekers arriving at the far northern border last year, the numbers have exploded to more than 4,000 this year.
"Almost all" now are from Afghanistan, he said.
According to him, they will also be returned, if not to Russia, to Afghanistan. Even though it won't be possible to put rejected Afghan refugees on chartered flights direct from Kirkenes to Kabul, because the Afghan government won't grant landing rights to such flights, Norway will use regularly chartered flights to return the Afghan citizens.
Among measures agreed on by government ministers to tighten Norwegian asylum procedures is a demand that any country accepting foreign aid from Norway must go along with the return of their own citizens.
Afghanistan continues to receive hundreds of millions of kroner worth of aid every year, Kallmyr noted. (Tolonews)