Berlin, Jul 18 (AP) Germany recently deported dozens of Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan on Friday. This marks the second instance of such an action since the Taliban seized power, and the first since Germany's new government, which has committed to a stricter migration policy, assumed office in Berlin.
The Interior Ministry announced that a flight carrying 81 Afghans, all men who had come to the attention of judicial authorities, departed on Friday morning. The deportation was conducted with assistance from Qatar, and the German government has expressed its intention to increase the number of deportations to Afghanistan.
Over 10 months ago, under the previous government, Germany deported Afghan nationals following the Taliban's return to power in 2021. At that time, then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to enhance deportations of asylum-seekers.
New Chancellor Friedrich Merz has made migration policy a focal point of his platform following Germany's election in February. Earlier in May, upon taking office, the government deployed more police personnel at the border and indicated that some asylum-seekers attempting to enter Europe's largest economy would be turned away. Additionally, family reunifications for many migrants have been suspended.
The deportation flight departed just before German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt was scheduled to meet with his counterparts from neighboring countries — France, Poland, Austria, Denmark, and the Czech Republic — along with the European Union's commissioner for migration, Magnus Brunner. The meeting, hosted by Dobrindt, is set to be held on the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak, on the Austrian border, to discuss migration issues.
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