New Delhi, July 20 -- Germany deported dozens of Afghan men to their homeland on Friday, the second time it has done so since the Taliban returned to power and the first since a new government pledging a tougher line on migration took office in Berlin.

German authorities said a flight took off Friday morning carrying 81 Afghans, all of them men who had previously come to judicial authorities' attention and had asylum applications rejected.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the deportation was carried out with the help of Qatar and was preceded by weeks of negotiations. He also said there were contacts with Afghanistan, but didn't elaborate.

More than 10 months ago, Germany's previous government deported Afghan nationals to their homeland ...