UK Home Secretary considers talks with Taliban on Afghan asylum seeker deportations
Updated
Updated · The Independent · Apr 25
UK Home Secretary considers talks with Taliban on Afghan asylum seeker deportations
8 articles · Updated · The Independent · Apr 25
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says the UK is closely monitoring European moves to engage the Taliban on deportations, as nearly 30,000 Afghans claimed asylum in the UK between 2022 and 2024.
Afghans were the largest group arriving by small boat in the year ending June 2025, and the UK recently signed a £662m migration agreement with France to curb arrivals.
The proposal faces criticism from humanitarian groups and comes as Afghan resettlement schemes remain frozen, despite government pledges to help eligible Afghans still trapped in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Why is the UK deporting Afghans while its promises to rescue allies remain broken?
Is the UK legitimizing a 'gender apartheid' regime by negotiating deportations?
With Germany already deporting, is the UK simply accepting a new European norm?
Can a collapsing state at war with Pakistan handle mass deportations?
What fate awaits women deported to a country where their autonomy is a crime?