81 people on board: Merz government launches first deportation flight to Afghanistan

Last summer, the traffic light coalition allowed deportations to Afghanistan again. However, under Chancellor Scholz, only one flight to the country was completed. Now, the first flight carrying Afghan criminals is taking off under the Merz era.

Germany is deporting Afghan nationals to their country of origin for the second time since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. As a spokeswoman for Alexander Dobrindt's CSU Federal Ministry of the Interior confirmed, a plane took off from Leipzig Airport this morning with 81 people on board to return them to their country of origin.

Deportation flights are not announced in advance. The last time Afghan criminals were deported was at the end of August last year – with the help of the Gulf emirate of Qatar, 28 men were also returned from Leipzig to their country of origin. Qatar had previously mediated between the West and the Taliban.

Following violent incidents in Mannheim and Solingen, the "Ampel" coalition government announced last summer that it would allow deportations to Afghanistan again. It remained at just one flight. After this year's general election and a few weeks before the new government took office, current CDU Chancellor Thorsten Frei, in response to a question from "Bild," promised regular deportation flights to Afghanistan and Syria. Germans could rely on this, he said. This would be achieved "permanently and in much larger areas."