Refugees offered cash to forgo asylum bid

Berlin is offering cash to Afghan refugees in Pakistan if they agree to give up their places on a programme for resettlement in Germany, activists said on Tuesday.

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The Afghans were accepted under a refugee scheme set up by the previous German government but around 2,000 have been stuck in Pakistan since conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office in May and froze the programme.

According to the initiative Airbridge Kabul, refugees have been sent a letter offering them money and other support in return for exiting the resettlement programme.

In the case of a single woman, the payments would be an initial €1,500 (about 56,000 baht) in Pakistan and a further €5,000 payment if she travels to Afghanistan or a third country.