Germany deports 32 convicted Afghan criminals to Kabul, fuelling debate over direct Taliban cooperation

The overnight deportation

In the night from Monday to Tuesday, a charter aircraft departed Leipzig/Halle airport bound for Kabul, carrying 32 Afghan men under a collective deportation order. According to the Federal Interior Ministry, all of those on board were convicted criminals who had served prison sentences for offences including rape, homicide, child sexual abuse, drug trafficking and robbery with extortion. The deportees were transferred from North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein, Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg, as well as from the jurisdiction of the Federal Police. Baden-Württemberg alone accounted for twelve of the men; Bavaria contributed fourteen, its interior minister Joachim Herrmann confirmed.

Roughly 35 opponents of the deportation gathered inside the Leipzig terminal for a silent vigil. The action followed a direct arrangement between Berlin and the Taliban authorities in Kabul that enables regular collective and individual removals without intermediary states.

Political defence and condemnation

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) rejected criticism during a CDU parliamentary group event in Hamburg’s city hall.

“Anyone who has committed serious crimes here has no right to return to our society.”

He contrasted the current government’s approach with that of its predecessors, arguing that migration had been brought “back into orderly channels” within a little over a year.

“There has been no shortage of humanity in recent years, but there has been a lack of order. Our country has been thrown into disorder in parts.”

Baden-Württemberg’s justice minister Moritz Oppelt (CDU) called the removal “an enormous security gain for our country” and pledged to continue enforcing departure obligations.

Opposition voices were scathing. Left party interior spokeswoman Clara Bünger said federal and state governments had “completely thrown human rights concerns overboard” and warned of a creeping normalisation of the Taliban regime. Green MP Marcel Emmerich labelled Dobrindt and his ministry “door openers for the Taliban,” accusing them of upgrading “a regime of Islamist terrorists.”

The Taliban agreement and its price

The repatriations rely on a bilateral understanding with the Taliban, who have governed Afghanistan since 2021. Berlin does not formally recognise the regime, citing systematic human rights abuses, especially against women. Yet in practice it has made concessions to keep the deportation pipeline open; notably, it has permitted the Taliban to dispatch diplomats to Afghan representations in Germany, posts previously staffed exclusively by envoys of the former government.

Green migration expert Filiz Polat questioned what further demands the federal government may have met to get the flight airborne.

“The initial cancellation of this deportation flight showed how susceptible to blackmail Germany has already become through Dobrindt’s cooperation with the Taliban. Now that the flight has taken place after all, the question is: which Taliban demands did the federal government bend to? The interior minister owes us an answer.”

A bumpy path to regular removals

The first post-2021 collective deportation took place in August 2024, when 28 male convicts were flown from Leipzig to Kabul via Qatar. Since then Germany has established its own direct channels, running both individual removals on scheduled flights and dedicated charter operations. The rhythm has not been smooth. A collective deportation planned for the end of May 2026 was scrapped after the Taliban signalled dissatisfaction with what they regarded as insufficient diplomatic engagement from the foreign ministry. Tuesday’s flight therefore marks both a resumption and a demonstration that the bilateral mechanism, however fragile, remains operational.