BERLIN (BN24) — Germany deported 81 Afghan nationals to their homeland on Friday, marking the country’s second repatriation flight to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan since 2021 and the first under Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s new right-leaning government.
The mass deportation underscores a significant shift in German migration policy, as Merz’s administration takes a harder stance on asylum seekers following his election victory in February. The Interior Ministry confirmed that all individuals on board were Afghan men who had previously come to the attention of judicial authorities. The flight was conducted with logistical support from Qatar.
The Interior Ministry also signaled that Friday’s removal was just the beginning. “We will continue these deportations,” the ministry stated, adding that more repatriation flights to Afghanistan are planned.
This latest operation comes more than ten months after the previous government carried out Germany’s first deportation to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized control in August 2021. Then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz, under mounting political pressure, had vowed to increase the deportation of rejected asylum seekers — a promise now being accelerated under his successor.
Merz, a longtime critic of Germany’s post-2015 migration policies, made border security and deportation reform a central theme of his campaign. Since assuming office in early May, his administration has deployed additional federal police to key border crossings and imposed tighter entry controls for asylum seekers. In one of its most controversial moves, the government also suspended family reunification privileges for many migrants, a measure human rights groups have sharply criticized.
The deportation flight took off just hours before Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt was scheduled to host a high-level migration summit with his counterparts from France, Austria, Poland, Denmark, and the Czech Republic, as well as European Union Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner. The meeting, taking place on Germany’s highest mountain — the Zugspitze, near the Austrian border — is expected to focus on strengthening joint border controls and streamlining asylum procedures across the EU.
The renewed expulsions come amid a broader push by several European governments to reduce irregular migration, with growing concerns over integration challenges and social tensions. While Germany had halted deportations to Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover citing security risks, critics of that decision argued it turned the country into a safe haven for criminals.
The current government now appears determined to reverse that policy — sending a message that Berlin is prepared to act unilaterally and decisively on migration enforcement.
The Associated Press
