Berlin brings 192 Afghans to Germany on charter flight

The German government has brought Afghan women and men to Germany on charter flights as part of the federal admission programme.

It’s the first such flight since Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition took office in May.

The 192 people flew from Islamabad to Erfurt Airport, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said on Tuesday. They were then taken to the Friedland border transit camp in the north of the country, from where they will move on to pther locations in Germany.

Other people who have been granted admission are still waiting in the Pakistani capital to leave for Germany. In recent months, Afghans have been brought from Islamabad to Germany several times on scheduled flights.

The German Ministry of the Interior says 62 of them have accepted an offer to withdraw their application for admission in exchange for a cash payment. Discussions are still ongoing with several other Afghans.

Among those still hoping to leave are former local staff who worked for German institutions before the Taliban regained power more than four years ago, and their families.

Pakistan has given the German government until the end of the year to complete the admission process. After that, the people will be deported to Afghanistan. However, the German government assumes that it will still be possible at the beginning of next year to admit Afghans who have permission to go to Germany.

The current German government stopped the admission programme for particularly vulnerable Afghans in May.

In addition to former local staff of German institutions and their families, the programme was intended to accept Afghans who fear persecution by the Islamist Taliban, for example because they have worked for human rights as lawyers or journalists in the past.