The German government appears to be reevaluating its plans for regular deportation flights to Afghanistan, as announced by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). A spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of the Interior stated on Friday in Berlin, in response to a query from the German news agency, that “neither the timing, frequency, nor the dates can be speculated about at present.” The conditions are not yet met, with challenges arising in legal, logistical and cooperative aspects with third countries.
Chancellor Scholz had said on Thursday, immediately after the alleged attack in Munich, at a event in Fürth, that Germany would conduct further flights to deport criminals to Afghanistan, “not just once, but repeatedly.”
Government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit hinted in the government press conference on Friday that no such deportation flight would likely take place before the federal election. The government has been “intensively working on this for weeks and months” but the “particular complexity” of the situation makes deportations to Afghanistan “not quite simple.