Overview
- A charter flight from Leipzig landed in Kabul carrying 40 Afghan men whom officials described as sexual and violent offenders and drug dealers, many transferred straight from German prisons to the plane.
- Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt defended the operation as enforcing the rule of law and said criminals must leave Germany.
- The government has increased the pace and scale of deportations to Kabul in recent months under a reported deal with Taliban authorities to permit regular flights.
- Hundreds of people protested at airports across Germany against the deportations and the use of detention to prepare removals.
- Federal police escorted the return and several German states participated in the roundup, a move that raises legal and human-rights questions about safety in Afghanistan and could intensify domestic political debate over migration policy.