RASC News Agency: The German Interior Ministry has repatriated 28 Afghanistani nationals to Kabul yesterday, marking the first deportation of Afghanistani citizens from Germany since the Taliban’s return to power. Stephan Hebestreit, a spokesperson for the German government, confirmed that all those deported were convicted criminals who had received deportation orders and had no legal right to remain in Germany.
These deportations were executed from Leipzig Airport following two months of covert indirect negotiations with the Taliban government, mediated by Qatar. According to the German government, each deportee was given €1,000 upon their return. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, commenting on the deportations, stated that Germany intends to send a strong message to foreign criminals.
Scholz remarked, “We have prepared for this action carefully and without much public discussion, as such plans only succeed when approached with diligence and caution. This is a clear signal that anyone committing criminal acts cannot assume they won’t be deported; as this case demonstrates, we will seek out means to execute these deportations.”
“Der Spiegel”, a prominent German magazine, reported that a chartered Qatar Airways flight, carrying the deported Afghanistani nationals, departed Leipzig Airport just before 7 AM local time. The magazine noted that this operation was the culmination of two months of “secret negotiations,” during which Qatar acted as an intermediary between Berlin and the Taliban authorities.
A spokesperson for the German Interior Ministry indicated that Germany has sought support from its “key regional partners” to facilitate these deportations and announced that more deportations are forthcoming. According to officials from the Ministry of Justice in the state of Baden-Württemberg, among those repatriated on Friday was an Afghanistani national who had participated in a gang rape of a 14-year-old girl, and another individual with over 160 criminal convictions.
Omid Nouripour, a leader of the Green Party, welcomed the deportation of convicted criminals but clarified that this does not signal the beginning of widespread deportations of Afghanistani nationals from Germany. He emphasized that “law-abiding individuals, particularly families and children who have fled from Islamist extremists, will continue to be protected in Germany.”
The German Foreign Ministry stated that despite these deportations, Berlin is not moving towards normalizing relations with the Taliban regime. A spokesperson for the ministry affirmed, “As long as the general conditions remain unchanged and the Taliban continue their current conduct, no efforts will be made to normalize relations with them.” He further noted that “technical-level contacts, particularly through our representation office in Doha, continue to facilitate these processes.”
The deportations come in the wake of a deadly knife attack in Solingen, Germany, allegedly carried out by a Syrian Islamist, and a May incident in which an Afghanistani man killed a police officer in Mannheim. These events prompted Chancellor Olaf Scholz to declare that any non-German national who praises terrorism will face deportation.
