Another group of Afghans with acceptance letters have left Pakistan for Germany. Many of them have had to wait for months or even years in the Pakistani capital Islamabad before finally being brought to safety. Others, meanwhile, have accepted cash to forfeit their visas, as the end-of-year deadline to get hundreds more Afghans to safety in Germany keeps getting closer
According to the German dpa news agency, there were 52 people flown out from the Pakistani capital Islamabad in the early hours of November 20, with one group landing in Hanover and another in Berlin.
Since the new German government took over in May, there has been a total of six such flights, bringing Afghans with acceptance letters to Germany.
To date, the only Afghans admitted to Germany are those who had already received an approval letter under the federal admission program during the previous administration under former Chancellor Olaf Scholz — and had also successfully sued the German government for a visa to exit Pakistan.
The organization "Kabul Airlift" has been helping Afghans file those lawsuits against the government to make sure they are evacuated before the year-end.
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Hundreds still waiting to be airlifted
According to dpa, there are now plans to charter planes for the sole purpose of bringing the remaining 1,900 Afghans who had been admitted under the program to Germany by the end of the year.
This is on account of the the fact that starting in 2026, Pakistan says it will deport Afghans with acceptance letters from Germany back to their home country.
However, there are no specific dates set yet for such potential charter flights.
Cash instead of a plane ticket
With the countdown to the end of the year accelerating, the German government has also sought other ways to solve this issue, offering money to some of the Afghans who had previously been accepted to the admission process if they were to withdraw from the program.
According to the latest information provided by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, only ten percent of those whom authorities had managed to contact had so far declared willingness on their part to accept the offer — which expired earlier this week.
In total, this translates to 62 people who took cash over a visa to Germany.
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Outrage among some Afghans over cash offer
Several of those Afghans still waiting to be airlifted to Germany meanwhile penned an open letter addressed to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier in November, expressing a deep sense of disappointment about the German government's offer to "buy out" their visas:
"Many of us have worked with Germany and have spent valuable years of our lives at your side," that letter read.
"We were important allies, comrades, fellow fighters, and friends. … It hurts us deeply when someone tries to use money to persuade us to sell our safety — and, for some of us, our lives."
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The long shadow of the Taliban
Many Afghan families have been waiting in Islamabad for months or even years to finally get to safety in Germany.
They all suffered a major shock when the new government halted the admissions program altogether when it took over leadership in May 2026.
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The admissions program for particularly vulnerable Afghans had been launched by the previous government to help former local employees of German institutions operating in Afghanistan and their families escape potential reprisals and oppression by the Taliban, who took over control in Afghanistan in August 2021.
The program is equally intended to evacuate Afghans who live in fear of suffering persecution by the radical Islamist group — for example activists who advocated for human rights as lawyers, or journalists who reported on pro-democracy movements prior to the return of the Taliban.
Initially, confirmed a document from the German Foreign Office, last updated under the previous government, around 45,000 Afghans were offered protection by Germany. Over 33,200 of those had been evacuated to Germany by April 2024, stated the Foreign Office