Migrants wait for a first registration in Erding near Munich | Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images Germany to deport thousands of Afghans The Left Party criticized the decision, saying it puts refugees in danger.

German authorities will send more than 12,000 Afghans back to their country after they failed to obtain asylum, according to the Osnabrücker Neue Zeitung.

That is 5 percent of approximately 247,000 Afghans now living in Germany the newspaper reported.

The government said that the security situation in Afghanistan allows for refugees to be sent home, particularly if they come from large urban centers that have now been deemed safe.

"There is no confirmation that the situation has worsened," the interior ministry was quoted saying in the newspaper. "The threat to Afghan civilians in the country as a whole has not changed in comparison to last year."

The decision drew criticism from far-left party Die Linke, which called the decision irresponsible. "The government's attempt to gloss over the security situation in Afghanistan is despicable," said one of its members, Ulla Jepke.

According to EU data, some 213,000 Afghans sought asylum in Europe in 2015, more than from any other country except Syria, and officials estimate that more than 60,000 would not qualify for international protection.

In October, the European Union made a deal with the Kabul government that outlined the return of their citizens. European foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini noted that the deal would apply only to illegal migrants or those who had been denied asylum.

The Commission was quick to deny the deal had any connection to the billions of euros the bloc has pledged to send the country in aid.

The question of sending back Afghan refugees remains fraught, as the country continues to suffer attacks from the armed groups, including the Taliban militants.

A truck bomb, detonated at the German consulate in Masar-i-Scharif, killed six people and injured at least 120 others last week, in what the Taliban said was a response to U.S. air strikes in Kunduz.

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