Another chartered flight carrying Afghan nationals is due to land in Leipzig this week, despite a newly signed coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD pledging to halt federal admission programs for migrants from Afghanistan.
According to Bild, the aircraft is due to import 162 Afghan asylum seekers but includes just five former local staff who had worked for German institutions in Afghanistan — individuals widely recognized as high-risk targets under Taliban rule. Alongside them are 19 family members, according to reports.
However, the remainder of the passengers are understood to have had no previous employment ties to German operations, raising fresh questions over the selection criteria for the program.
The arrival comes despite the finalization of a coalition agreement between the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democrats, which stated: “We will end voluntary federal admission programs as far as possible (for example, Afghanistan) and will not launch any new programs.”
CSU General Secretary Martin Huber criticized the current left-wing coalition government for continuing with the program until its last day in office, telling the German tabloid, “The fact that Ms. Baerbock, as the voted out foreign minister, ruthlessly follows through with her own ideology until the end is indecent.”
The Foreign Office, however, insists the government is legally obliged to offer refuge to those already awaiting departure from Pakistan. “Around 2,600 people are still in the various phases of the departure procedure with binding admission commitments or declarations of admission,” it replied.
In February, 155 Afghans arrived in Berlin from a German-managed reception center in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, which included just three former Bundeswehr collaborators. Costs linked to such admissions have ballooned, with Bild reporting that the security checks alone — including deploying German officials to Pakistan to conduct interviews — have cost taxpayers around €4.3 million up to the end of last year.
Concerns over the security and integrity of the relocation process have intensified. The German Police Union (DPolG) recently demanded an immediate suspension of the program, citing major security risks and widespread document fraud.
In a letter to then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz last month, DPolG Chief Rainer Wendt warned of “grave security lapses,” including the use of falsified Afghan birth and marriage certificates and proxy passports issued by the Taliban — documents not recognized under international law.
Reports also suggested that Afghan applicants presenting fraudulent documents were not automatically disqualified. Instead, authorities often rely on what is termed an “alternative credibility” assessment to issue foreign travel documents and visas, a practice heavily criticized by security officials.
“In many cases, individuals with dubious documents are still allowed to travel. This raises serious security concerns,” said Heiko Teggatz of the German Police Union.
The continuation of the federal admission program comes amid a spike in high-profile crimes linked to Afghan nationals in Germany. In January this year in Aschaffenburg’s Schöntal Park, a 28-year-old Afghan migrant fatally stabbed a toddler and a man in a random attack targeting a daycare group and their guardians.
Just weeks prior to national elections, another high-profile case saw 24-year-old Afghan migrant Farhad Noori drive a vehicle into a Ver.di union demonstration in Munich, injuring 28 people, including a child. Noori, whose asylum claim had been rejected in 2020, had a history of criminal offenses but had not been deported.
Further cases include the ongoing trial of a 19-year-old Afghan asylum seeker accused of attacking a Ukrainian woman with a box cutter in Frankfurt, and last year’s fatal stabbing spree in Mannheim, where an Afghan national murdered a police officer.
The integrity of Germany’s Afghan evacuation has been under scrutiny since the chaotic withdrawal of Western allies from Kabul in 2021. Then-Interior Minister Horst Seehofer revealed that at least 20 evacuees had failed security screenings, including convicted rapists and individuals previously deported for security concerns. Some evacuees were reportedly linked to terror watchlists.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel commented on the latest flight due to land this week, describing the move as “the biggest voter fraud that is second to none.”
