German authorities say they have deported 69 Afghans whose asylum requests were rejected.

A plane carrying the men from Munich to Kabul landed in the Afghan capital early Wednesday. It was one of the largest collective deportation flights yet organized by Germany, which has vowed to step up the removal of people who don’t have a right to remain in the country.
The state interior minister of Bavaria, where 51 of the men had been living, welcomed the deportation flight.
Joachim Herrmann noted that unlimited deportations to Afghanistan had recently been approved by Germany’s federal authorities. In recent years deportations to Afghanistan were limited to people with criminal convictions.
Germany has vowed to step up the removal of foreigners whose asylum requests have been rejected, according to a DPA report.
German authorities had stopped collective deportations after a May 2017 truck bombing in front of the German Embassy in Kabul that killed more than 150 people.
But Berlin restarted deportations in September 2017 in three categories: suspected terrorists, criminals, and individuals who did not cooperate with the German government regarding their documents.
The latest deportation comes amid a worsening security situation in Afghanistan, with intensified attacks by Taliban militants as well as Daesh.