German activists demand ban on deportations to Afghanistan

Rights activists in Germany called for an end to deportations to Afghanistan ahead of a planned flight to Kabul on Tuesday, citing the deteriorating security situation as NATO allies pullout from the war-torn country.

"With the withdrawal of NATO troops and the advance of the Taliban, the precarious security and human rights situation in Afghanistan looks set to continue to worsen," said Amnesty International Germany.

"Afghanistan is not a safe country. This has not changed for years," the group's Julia Duchrow said in a statement. 

The Pro Asyl campaign group called the decision to send rejected asylum seekers back to Kabul from Hanover on Tuesday "irresponsible". They too pointed to the "constantly deteriorating security situation".

The group called for deportations to be suspended for three months, director Guenter Burkhardt accusing German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of "standing by and watching".

Germany last week completed its troop pull-out from Afghanistan, started in May, ending a nearly 20-year deployment there alongside US and other international forces.

The foreign ministry confirmed on Tuesday it had closed its consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif.

All US and NATO forces have already left Bagram Air Base near Kabul - the command centre for anti-Taliban operations - and are due to completely pull out of the country by September 11.

With the NATO military presence in Afghanistan effectively over, the country faces an uncertain future, with Taliban attacks increasing.

The German interior ministry gives details of deportations only once they have been carried out. 

According to Amnesty International, 1,077 people have been deported from Germany to Afghanistan since 2016, including 140 since the beginning of 2021.