Germany deported 28 Afghan nationals to Afghanistan, the first such removals since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, according to the AP report.
The government described those sent back as convicted criminals, though it did not publicly detail the individual offenses. Government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said Germany’s security interests outweighed the protection claims of criminals and people deemed a threat to national security. Chancellor Olaf Scholz used the move to signal that people who commit crimes should not expect to remain in the country indefinitely.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser framed the deportation as a matter of public safety and rule of law, saying Germany had enforced the law and sent criminals back to Afghanistan. The report says German media, citing information from the federal states involved, identified offenses including rape, serious arson and manslaughter, though those specifics were not formally confirmed by the government in the statement quoted.
The decision immediately triggered criticism from rights groups. Amnesty International’s German branch said the deportations had been driven by election-season pressure and argued that Afghanistan is not safe, warning that the removals may violate international law. The AP report notes that Germany does not maintain diplomatic relations with the Taliban and had to work through other channels to execute the deportations.
The removals came against a tense political backdrop. A week earlier, Germany had been shaken by a deadly knife attack in Solingen in which the suspect was a Syrian asylum seeker. The suspect had reportedly been scheduled for deportation to Bulgaria the year before but avoided removal. That attack sharpened the immigration debate ahead of state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, where anti-immigration parties were expected to perform strongly.
Berlin had already been moving toward tougher deportation policy. The AP report says Scholz had pledged in June that Germany would begin deporting criminals from Afghanistan and Syria again after a separate knife attack killed a police officer and wounded four others. Faeser also announced a plan to tighten knife laws. The latest deportation therefore fits into a broader domestic push to show tougher border and security enforcement.
At the same time, the Taliban’s own conduct makes any thaw in relations politically difficult. The report says Afghanistan recently issued new morality laws requiring women to cover their faces, bodies and voices outside the home, a move that drew condemnation from German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
The larger issue is whether Germany can pursue security-driven removals without weakening protections for people who may still face danger in Afghanistan. The government says Friday’s flight was necessary and lawful. Critics say it sent the opposite signal: that election pressure can override human-rights concerns.
For now, the deportation appears to be a one-off, not a normalization of relations. But it sets a precedent that Berlin may find harder to reverse if domestic politics continue to pull migration policy in a harder direction.
