Germany Will Establish A Mechanism For Regular Deportations To Afghanistan

• 6.09.2025, 18:18

There have only been two deportation flights to Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt intends to make deportations to Afghanistan of people from that country who have been denied asylum in Germany more regular. "The federal government is working intensively to establish a permanent deportation mechanism," a spokeswoman for the German Interior Ministry told the dpa news agency on Saturday, September 6.

She said "all options from a legal and operational point of view" were being explored as part of the process. At the same time, it is not yet clear whether Qatar will be involved in the deportations, as it was in the case of the deportation flight in July, the ministry further pointed out.

After the radical Islamist Taliban movement came to power in Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, Germany suspended the expulsions of Afghan citizens. They were resumed only a year ago, in August 2024, when 28 Afghan citizens convicted of criminal offenses were flown from Germany to Kabul. Before departure, each of them received 1,000 euros.

A Taliban spokesman said at the time that the criminals deported from Germany were released after their families gave written assurances that they would not commit any criminal offenses. Germany's then-Interior Minister Nancy Feather promised to continue the deportations, but no more deportation flights left Germany for Afghanistan until the end of the former coalition government's term.

The next deportation flight to Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power was from Germany in mid-July. There were 81 Afghan nationals aboard the plane. According to Dobrindt, these men "have been convicted of criminal offenses" and are "subject to mandatory deportation." Among the men deported are men convicted of murder, sex crimes and drug trafficking.