Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has refused to rule out sending rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, signalling that Whitehall is holding internal discussions on a returns programme. The move would reverse current UK policy and likely shock humanitarian groups.
Mahmood said she is “monitoring very closely” talks between Kabul and EU countries about returns, and indicated “additional conversations” are taking place within the UK government. She stated: “I’m not ruling it in or out. I’m not going to give a running commentary on additional conversations that are happening.”
Currently, the UK cannot return refused asylum seekers to Afghanistan because it does not recognise the Taliban-led government. The United Nations last month described Afghanistan as a “graveyard for human rights” enforcing “gender apartheid” with torture and corporal punishment. Women and girls over 11 are excluded from education and most paid employment.
Mahmood’s comments follow Swedish-facilitated talks between Kabul and Brussels on a returns deal. More than 20 EU countries have expressed interest in beginning returns to Afghanistan. Germany has already deported over 100 criminals to Afghanistan since 2024.
Afghans were the most common nationality arriving by small boat in the year ending June 2025, with 6,360 arrivals – 18% higher than the previous year. Grant rates for Afghan asylum seekers have fallen sharply from 99% in 2023 to 38% in the first half of 2025 after a higher standard of proof was introduced.
Dr Madeleine Sumption of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University noted that many countries do not return refused asylum seekers to Afghanistan, though some, like Germany, have been willing to do so. She added that if a person has been refused asylum, the government has already judged they can live safely in their country of origin.
