Germany announced on Friday the deportation of 81 Afghan men, all convicted of crimes, to their Taliban-controlled homeland. This action signals Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government’s intention to adopt a firm approach to immigration.
The interior ministry confirmed that a plane carrying the men departed Friday morning for Afghanistan. All deportees, the ministry added, were subject to expulsion orders and had been found guilty by the criminal justice system.
The government of Europe’s leading economy is pushing ahead with a “policy change,” stated Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, who was hosting several European counterparts for a migration meeting. He emphasized, “Deportations to Afghanistan must continue to be carried out safely in the future. There is no right of residence for serious criminals in our country.”
Germany has maintained only indirect contact with the Taliban authorities through third parties, and Friday’s operation was executed with assistance from Qatar, as confirmed by the German interior ministry. Germany had halted deportations to Afghanistan and closed its embassy in Kabul following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
However, expulsions resumed last year for the first time since the Taliban assumed control, when the previous government under Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz deported a group of 28 Afghans convicted of crimes.
Human Rights Concerns and Immigration Policy Overhauls
Human rights group Amnesty International strongly condemned the renewed deportations to Afghanistan, describing the situation in the country as “catastrophic.” The group stated, “Extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and torture are commonplace.”
Earlier this month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, accusing them of crimes against humanity related to the persecution of women and girls.
Merz told a press conference on Friday that Germany aims to be an “attractive country for immigration” to draw in top talent and address significant labor shortages. However, Merz acknowledged that the previous government’s policies had burdened local administrations excessively.
He stated that his government had “initiated corrections” to steer migration policy in the right direction, including tightening border controls and limiting family reunification rights for some refugees. Merz noted that policing Germany’s borders with its neighbors is merely a “temporary” solution, emphasizing the need for a durable European-level resolution.
Migration Summit and Political Context
On Friday, Dobrindt met with his French, Polish, Austrian, Danish, and Czech counterparts, along with European Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner, in southern Germany. The objective of the meeting, Dobrindt told the Augsburger Allgemeine daily, is to “strengthen European migration policy.”
A debate regarding the resumption of expulsions has intensified as migration has climbed the political agenda, coinciding with the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The AfD achieved a historic electoral result of over 20% in February—its highest national score—placing the party closely behind Merz’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc.
The controversy surrounding immigration was exacerbated by a series of deadly attacks last year involving asylum seekers, including several from Afghanistan. Germany’s new government, a coalition between the CDU/CSU and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), has pledged to deport more foreign criminals alongside a crackdown on irregular migration.
In addition to carrying out deportations to Afghanistan, Dobrindt has stated that he is in contact with authorities to enable deportations to Syria, which have been suspended since 2012. Longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December. The country is now under the control of leaders, some of whom were once linked with the Al-Qaeda jihadist network.
