Germany deported 28 Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan on Friday, marking the first such deportation since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
Government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit described them as convicted criminals but did not provide details on their offenses.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser emphasized that the deportation was a matter of security for Germany.
Germany does not have diplomatic relations with the Taliban, requiring the government to work through other channels.
The deportations came a week after a deadly knife attack in Solingen, in which the suspect, a Syrian citizen who had applied for asylum in Germany, was involved.
The suspect was slated for deportation to Bulgaria last year but reportedly disappeared and evaded deportation.
He was ordered held Sunday on suspicion of murder and membership in a terrorist organization, pending further investigation and a possible indictment.
The Daesh group claimed responsibility for last Friday’s attack, though it did not provide evidence.
The terrorist group said on its news site that the attacker targeted Christians and carried out the assaults "to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.”
The claim could not be independently verified.
Immigration has also become a topic of debate ahead of regional elections Sunday in Germany’s Saxony and Thuringia regions, where anti-immigration parties such as the populist Alternative for Germany are expected to perform well.
In June, Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to resume deportations of criminals from Afghanistan and Syria following a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant that left one police officer dead and four others injured.
Faeser announced a plan Thursday to tighten knife laws, according to the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).
Along with other officials in the governing coalition, she also pledged during a news conference to make deportations easier.
The Taliban government's morality police announced it would no longer cooperate with the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, calling it "an opposing side."
"Due to its continued propaganda, effective immediately, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice will not provide any support or cooperation with UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan), which will be considered an opposing side," the ministry said in a statement on social media late Thursday.
