Germany has deported around 25 Afghan men convicted of crimes on a charter flight from Leipzig to Kabul. The deportation, carried out under an agreement with the Taliban, reflects Germany's broader policy to resume regular removals to Afghanistan despite ongoing human rights concerns and the lack of formal diplomatic relations.
The German government has once again deported a group of Afghan nationals to their country of origin, according to German local media sources. The operation, carried out overnight into Tuesday (April 28), involved a charter flight departing from the eastern German city of Leipzig, carrying around 25 men described as convicted offenders.
According to Der Spiegel, a Freebird-operated aircraft left Leipzig shortly after midnight. The Airbus A320 reportedly made a scheduled stop in Trabzon, Turkey, before continuing on to Kabul. One Interior Ministry spokesperson confirmed the aircraft departed from Leipzig during the night and arrived in Kabul in the morning hours.
In Kabul, the deportees were expected to be transferred on Tuesday morning to authorities in Afghanistan, currently governed by the Taliban. Federal police officers accompanying the flight were expected to return to Germany on the same aircraft.
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Which offences were the deportees convicted of?
The magazine further reported that most of the individuals were transported directly from detention facilities to Leipzig/Halle Airport. They had been held across several German federal states in connection with a range of criminal convictions, including theft, handling stolen goods, drug trafficking, gang rape, manslaughter, hostage-taking, extortionate kidnapping, and politically motivated offenses.
Similar details were confirmed in reports by media agencies AFP and epd, which stated that the group consisted entirely of men who had lost their right to remain in Germany due to criminal convictions.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the deportation was conducted under a bilateral arrangement with the Taliban authorities, who the ministry described as the "de facto government of Afghanistan." The agreement allows for the return of convicted offenders without the involvement of intermediary countries.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has previously described such arrangements as a key instrument in migration policy, referring to them as a "building block of control, direction, and a firm stance in migration policy." The framework, he said, provides "a reliable foundation for direct and long-term deportations to Afghanistan."
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Collaboration with Taliban despite widespread human rights abuses
This latest flight follows a similar operation in February, when 20 individuals were deported to Afghanistan under the same arrangement. At the time, officials indicated that such returns could become more regular.
According to the Interior Ministry, the current framework stems from coalition negotiations between the CDU/CSU and SPD roughly a year ago, in which the parties agreed that deportations of certain groups, particularly serious offenders, should be resumed not only to Afghanistan but potentially also to Syria in the future.
The Foreign Office states on its website that "The German Federal Government does not recognize the Taliban’s de facto government as the legitimate government of Afghanistan." Nevertheless, the Foreign Office in November 2025 accredited representatives sent by the Taliban as consular officers who took over management of the consulates in Berlin and Bonn.
The deportation policy has drawn criticism from human rights organizations, who warn that Afghanistan’s security situation and restrictions on civil liberties, particularly under Taliban rule, make returns unsafe. Germany does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with the Taliban government, which returned to power in August 2021 and remains internationally isolated over its human rights record.
With AFP, dpa and epd