Germany said it had deported Afghan criminals back to their home country for the first time since Taliban authorities took power in 2021, as Berlin faces pressure to get tougher on migration.

The 28 Afghan nationals were all "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 chartered Qatar Airways flight bound for Kabul took off from Leipzig airport just before 0500 GMT with the Afghans on board, Der Spiegel magazine said.

'Secret negotiations'

The operation was the result of two months of "secret negotiations" in which Qatar acted as the intermediary between Berlin and the Taliban authorities, Spiegel reported.

Hebestreit said Germany had "asked key regional partners for support in order to facilitate the deportations." More such deportations would follow, he said.

Germany completely stopped deportations to Afghanistan and closed its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took power in August 2021.

Among those sent back was an Afghan man who took part in the gang rape of a 14-year-old girl, and another with over 160 criminal convictions, said the justice ministry of Baden-Wuerttemberg state.

"Our security matters, and our rule of law - state is taking action," said Interior Minister Nancy Faeser.

Green party co-leader Omid Nouripour welcomed the expulsion of convicted serious criminals, but said it did not signal the start of large-scale deportations to Afghanistan.

Calls for tougher action

"Law-abiding people, especially families and children who have fled from radical Islamists" are protected in Germany, Nouripour said.

Berlin faces growing calls to curb illegal migration and take tougher action against dangerous and convicted asylum seekers, following a series of high-profile crimes. 

Germany is still reeling from last week's knife attack at a street festival in the western city of Solingen that left three people dead, allegedly committed by a 26-year-old Syrian man with links to the Islamic State group.

The suspect was meant to have been deported to Bulgaria a while back but the operation failed after authorities were unable to locate him.

In May, a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of killing a police officer in a knife attack on a market square in the city of Mannheim. 

The stabbing shocked Germany and revived debate about deporting serious criminals even if they come from countries deemed unsafe like Afghanistan or Syria. 

Faeser had already said deportations to both countries would resume "very soon" as part of a package of measures to tighten security and asylum policies.

Discontent about immigration is expected to play a key role in two closely-watched regional elections in eastern Germany this Sunday, where the far-right AfD party is expected to make big gains.

Germany plays down Taliban relations

A German foreign ministry spokesperson said Berlin will not take steps towards the normalization of its relations with the Taliban despite the deportation.

"As long as the general conditions are as they are and the Taliban behave the way they do, there will be no effort to normalize relations with the Taliban," the spokesperson said.

"There are contacts on a technical level, especially through our representative office in Doha," the spokesperson added, referring to months of negotiations over the deportations.

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