Even German pilots are not convinced by Germany’s decision to consider Afghanistan a ‘safe country’ to force asylum seekers to return home. 222 expulsions were not carried out between January and September of this year because they refused to fly direct planes to the country battered by the Taliban to bring back Afghan migrants.

The hypocrisy of the German government on Afghanistan can be seen by simply consulting the site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the Germans are strongly advised against traveling to certain areas of the country due to the strong presence of the Taliban and ISIS fundamentalists

The pilots’ resistance emerged from the government’s response to a parliamentary question by Linke. The vast majority of those expelled to Kabul were to leave Frankfurt (140), and almost a third (85) with Lufthansa flights or the Eurowings subsidiary.

After the two-year period of the 2015-2016 refugees, Germany has greatly accelerated the examination procedures for asylum seekers. In the first six months of this year it has examined as many as the whole European Union together: 388,201. The government is also trying to speed up repatriation and has blocked reunification. But now refugees appeal against one-of-two rejections.