For the first time since the Taliban seized power, a deportation flight to Afghanistan left Germany’s Leipzig/Halle airport on Friday morning, the regional interior ministry said.
A Qatar Airways charter plane carrying 28 Afghan criminals from several states left Leipzig, the largest city in the state of Saxony, at 6:56 a.m. (04:56 GMT) for Kabul.
The operation was organized by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Germany does not maintain diplomatic relations with the Taliban leaders in Kabul.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that following the deadly knife attack in Mannheim at the end of May, the deportation of the most dangerous criminals and terrorism suspects to Afghanistan and Syria will again be possible.
Persons suspected by the security authorities of being capable of committing the most serious politically motivated crimes, including terrorist attacks, are also covered by this decision.
The debate has flared up again after last week’s deadly knife attack in the western city of Solingen, which left three people dead. The main suspect is a 26-year-old Syrian man who is believed to have evaded a deportation order.
