...the twenty first century equivalent of bubonic plague, only instead of killing off a third of the population of Europe it kills 3.4 percent of those who notice they have it. It seems to be fond of the elderly, especially Iranian politicians and holy men...in March. The move has triggered fierce criticism.
I'd give "Fierce Criticism" all the respect it deserves: a rifle butt to the face
Around 40 rejected asylum-seekers from Afghanistan have arrived in Kabul, according to Afghanistan's Refugee Affairs Ministry.
Among them is a 21-year-old whom the German refugee organization Fluchtlingsrat Berlin describes as a heavily traumatized individual. The young Afghan was in a German prison for various petty crimes and was due to be released in January. "We don't want to belittle his crimes," the organization writes in a press statement. "But we think it is irresponsible of Germany — at a time of an international pandemic — to rid itself of an individual who came to Berlin as an underage refugee, after having suffered traumatizing events in his childhood."
Several German refugee NGOs had sounded alarms over Wednesday's planned deportation flight from Leipzig/Halle airport. The last deportation from Germany to Afghanistan was on March 11, just before the government in Kabul asked for a freeze, as it was struggling to cope with the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
'DEPORTEES FACE THREATS TO THEIR LIVES'
Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Over the past 10 years, over 100,000 civilians have bit the dust there. The Afghan government and the krazed killer Islamist Taliban
...Arabic for
students...
are currently in peace talks. But violence has increased markedly this year, with the deputy governor of Kabul and a renowned journalist among the most recent casualties.
Why the Afghan government agreed to accept the deportees now in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic is unclear. Afghanistan analyst Thomas Ruttig, with the Tony Blair Institute for Global Ideas, suspects a link to the Afghanistan donors' conference that was held on November 23 and 24 in Geneva, Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
. There all participating countries signed a final document committing themselves to facilitate the return of rejected Afghan asylum-seekers.
PANDEMIC FURTHER THREATENS HEALTH, WELFARE
Pro Asyl says it has learned that several individuals who had been scheduled for the deportation flight got German courts to halt procedures, pointing to the security situation as well as the pandemic, which would make it impossible for the returnees to be able to earn a living in the war-torn country.
The German Interior Ministry has also confirmed that the Afghan government has demanded all asylum-seekers test negative for the coronavirus before being deported. There has been no information on regulations on the protection measures for accompanying security personnel.
Germany is not the only country to resume deportations to Afghanistan. Earlier this week there were also reports of deportation flights from Austria and Bulgaria.