
UK Home Secretary refuses to rule out sending rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has refused to rule out sending rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to Afghanistan, as she 'monitors very closely' EU-Taliban returns talks. The policy would reverse current UK practice, which bars returns because the UK does not recognise the Taliban government. Afghans were the most common nationality arriving by small boats in the year to June 2025 (6,360 arrivals), with grant rates falling sharply from 99% in 2023 to 38% in H1 2025. The UN has described Afghanistan as a 'graveyard for human rights' enforcing 'gender apartheid'.