Plane lands - Germany takes in more Afghans

A plane chartered by the German government with Afghans on board landed at Leipzig/Halle Airport on Wednesday evening. A total of 138 people had arrived, a spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said in response to an inquiry. The flight had taken off from Islamabad.

According to the Federal Foreign Office, the passengers are people from various programs who have received a legally binding confirmation of admission. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 45 of the people who landed in Saxony in the evening are children and young people. 76 female and 62 male people had arrived, a spokesperson said. "In these cases, Germany has already given specific promises of admission in the past," he emphasized. No new promises would be made. For the German government, safety is the top priority for these admissions. For this reason, each individual person would be checked accordingly before possible entry.

According to the Federal Foreign Office, around 2,600 particularly vulnerable people from Afghanistan are currently waiting in Pakistan to be admitted to Germany. In addition to former local employees of German institutions and their relatives, Afghans who fear persecution by the Islamist Taliban, for example because they have campaigned for human rights as lawyers or journalists in the past, are also to be admitted.

Politicians from the CDU/CSU have reacted indignantly to the flights planned for April. The coalition agreement between the CDU, CSU and SPD states: "We will end voluntary federal admission programs as far as possible (for example Afghanistan) and not set up any new programs."

Afghans waiting to leave Islamabad as part of the admission programs could soon come under considerable pressure. Pakistan began a new wave of deportations of Afghan refugees at the beginning of April.