GERMANY   -   A deportation flight bound for Afghanistan carrying 28 Afghan nationals left Germany on Friday morning, a day after the German government pledged to strengthen its asylum regulations in the wake of a deadly knife attack.  A spokesperson from Saxony’s Interior Ministry told CNN that a plane with the Afghans on board departed from Leipzig just before 7 a.m. local time and was scheduled to land in Kabul. Afghanistan on Friday afternoon. The Afghans on the flight are convicted criminals from various states across Germany who had been selected by the Interior Ministry, the spokesperson added.  Flight trackers show that a Boeing 787 from Qatar Airlines left Leipzig at 6.55 a.m., traveling to Kabul.  The flight marks Germany’s first deportation of Afghans back to their home country since the Taliban retook power there three years ago, in August 2021. According to German news magazine Der Spiegel, the deportations are the result of months of negotiations and planning.  Der Spiegel reported that each deportee, all of whom were male, received a payment of €1,000 ($1,100). The spokesperson for Saxony’s Interior Ministry was unable to confirm this.  In a news conference following the flight’s departure, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit emphasized to journalists that Berlin was not in direct talks with the Taliban. Rather, it secured the deportation through the mediation of key regional powers, he said.