Overview

• The interior minister says talks with the Taliban are very advanced and could enable routine returns to Afghanistan, potentially on scheduled flights.
• Ministry staff held technical meetings in Kabul last weekend on how to organize the deportations, and Dobrindt says he is prepared to travel there if needed.
• He is also seeking to restart removals to Syria, with reports indicating a focus on rejected young male applicants and an initial emphasis on offenders.
• SPD-led state interior ministers call indefinite deportation detention "doubtless unconstitutional," a view echoed by asylum-law experts and rights groups.
• Capacity constraints complicate the plans, with roughly 790 detention places largely in use versus about 226,600 people obliged to leave and nearly 12,000 deportations in the first half of 2025, as Dobrindt also pushes EU measures like secondary-migration centers and third-country return hubs.