• German authorities have deported Afghans to Kabul on a charter flight under a direct agreement with the Taliban regime.
• The deportees arriving in Kabul are to be processed and interrogated by Taliban officials, potentially being released afterwards based on assurances from their families.
• The German government's decision to facilitate deportations to Afghanistan has faced criticism due to the Taliban's human rights violations and the country's severe humanitarian crisis.

Germany has once again deported Afghans to their home country on a charter flight.

The aircraft took off from Leipzig/Halle Airport in the early hours of Tuesday morning, dpa has learnt.

The Interior Ministry in the eastern state of Saxony confirmed the deportation. The German Interior Ministry could not initially be reached for comment.

Eyewitnesses at Kabul airport reported seeing several families waiting for their relatives. As officials explained to those waiting at the airport, the deportees were to be processed and interrogated by Taliban officials upon their arrival. Afterwards, they could potentially be released following assurances from their families.

The basis for the deportation is a direct agreement with the Islamist Taliban regime, which enables the German government to carry out regular deportations to Afghanistan without the involvement of intermediary states.

In early June, a mass deportation of men required to leave the country to Afghanistan - originally scheduled for the end of May - was cancelled because the Taliban authorities refused to cooperate.

Critics say the German government does not recognize the Taliban due to their human rights violations - particularly those affecting women - but, at the same time, makes practical concessions to facilitate deportations.

These include permission to send individual diplomats to the Afghan missions in Germany, where previously only diplomats who had been posted there by the previous government had worked.

No details regarding those deported on this occasion were initially made public.

Afghanistan is currently experiencing a severe humanitarian crisis. At least 3.7 million young children and 1.2 million pregnant or breastfeeding mothers are considered acutely malnourished. Experts report critical levels of hunger in almost all of the country's provinces.