Even if his asylum request is refused, an Afghan migrant can no longer be expelled from French territory. “In view of the deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan, France has suspended removals to this country since the beginning of July,” the Interior Ministry assured Thursday. The announcement comes as the Taliban on Thursday seized the strategic town of Ghazni, 150 km southwest of Kabul, now controlling ten of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals.
The day before, Germany and the Netherlands also announced the suspension of deportations of Afghan migrants to their country of origin due to the fighting there between the fundamentalist Islamist movement and pro-government forces. “We are following the development of the situation closely, in conjunction with our European partners,” added the ministry.
First country of origin of asylum seekers in France
Afghans made up 10.6% of asylum seekers in the EU in 2020 (just over 44,000 out of some 416,600 requests), the second largest contingent behind Syrians (15.2%), according to the statistical agency of the ‘EU Eurostat. That same year in France, Afghanistan was the first country of origin for asylum seekers in France, with 8,886 requests.
On July 11, Afghanistan called on European countries to stop deporting Afghan migrants over the next three months, due to the intensification of fighting in the country. Sweden and Finland had suspended removals to Afghanistan following the appeal. The Netherlands and Germany which, alongside Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Greece had asked Brussels to be able to continue the expulsions, finally did an about-face Wednesday by announcing to suspend them in turn.
According to a European official, since the start of 2021, 1,200 people have been returned from the EU to Afghanistan, 1,000 of whom were initially described as “volunteers”, the other 200 having been “forced” to leave.