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On 21 October, the first plane to be jointly chartered by British and French authorities for the purpose of deporting refugees whose requests for asylum have been denied landed in Kabul, after a stopover in Paris. The deportation was largely ignored in Great Britain, which, as The Times points out repatriated 3,835 Afghans with or without their agreement in 2008. However, in France, the flight – which was the first refugee charter to Afghanistan since 2005 — prompted an outcry on the opposition benches, among human rights groups, and even in the ranks of the majority. "How can you justify the deportation of three Afghans to a war zone?" asks the Libération editorial. The left-wing daily further avers that France's Immigration Minister Eric Besson and President Nicolas Sarkozy "are intent on sending a clear message: charter flights may now legitimately be used to cope with flow of refugees into Europe."
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