A deportation flight to Afghanistan has left Germany's Leipzig/Halle Airport, the Interior Ministry for the state of Saxony said on Friday. 

It is the first deportation of Afghans back to their home country since the Taliban took power in Kabul in August 2021.

"These were Afghan nationals, all of whom were convicted offenders who had no right to stay in Germany and against whom deportation orders had been issued," government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement. 

A Qatar Airways charter jet carrying 28 Afghan offenders brought from various German states left Leipzig, the biggest city in the eastern state of Saxony, for Kabul at 6:56 am (0456 GMT).  

Germany's federal Interior Ministry organized the operation.

Months of negotiations prior to deportation

The German government said in a statement that it thanked "key regional partners" for their support. It added that more such deportations were in the works.

According to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, the deportation flight was the result of two months of secret negotiations with mediator Qatar.

Germany does not have any diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Negotiating directly with the Taliban, some of whose officials are under international sanctions, is widely seen as problematic.

Berlin had stopped returning people to Afghanistan due to human rights concerns after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

Deportation ahead of state election

A political debate over asylum and deportation rules has been brewing in Germany ahead of state elections. 

Thuringia and Saxony, two eastern German states where the anti-immigrant AfD party is leading in the polls, are holding elections on Sunday.

In the wake of the deadly knife attack in Mannheim at the end of May, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that the deportation of the most dangerous criminals and terror suspects to Afghanistan and Syria would be possible again.

The discussion has grown increasingly heated after three people were killed and eight wounded in the attack which took place during a festival marking Solingen's 650 years. The suspect is a failed asylum seeker from Syria.

dh/rc (dpa, Reuters)