Photo: DPAEighteen Afghans deported from Germany arrived in Kabul Thursday after their asylum pleas were rejected, the third group to be sent back in recent months as Berlin speeds up the expulsions. "An elderly man was among the deportees and the rest were young Afghans who arrived in a charter plane from Munich," Kabul airport official Taimoor Shah Hamidi told AFP. They were part of a third wave of repatriations of Afghans from Germany since December under a disputed Afghan-European Union deal aimed at curbing the influx of migrants. Nearly 80 Afghans, all men, have so far been sent back after their asylum applications were rejected by the German government. In early February, 23-year-old Atiqullah Akbari suffered shrapnel injuries in a militant attack in Kabul, two weeks after he was deported from Germany.

Source: The Local February 23, 2017 10:30 UTC