Around 400 Afghan women and girls are living in limbo in Britain after their asylum applications were rejected, according to a report by The Observer. The paper said they cannot return to Afghanistan yet are not permitted to remain in the UK.
Figures from the Home Office showed that by the end of June 2025, more than 6,000 Afghan asylum claims had been refused, including 367 from women and girls, despite widespread reports of human rights abuses in Afghanistan.
The Observer reported on Sunday that thousands of Afghan asylum seekers, among them hundreds of women and girls, were stranded in temporary accommodation such as hotels with no source of income and no clear future.
An Oxford University study found that acceptance rates for Afghan asylum applications had more than halved in the past year. While nearly 99 percent of applications were approved at the end of 2023, the figure fell to just 37 percent in the first half of 2025.
By June this year, more than 6,700 Afghan asylum seekers were still awaiting an initial decision. If rejections continue at the current rate, the total number of Afghans refused asylum could surpass 10,000.
The Home Office has argued that the rejections are based on its assessment of “security in Afghanistan,” claiming there is only limited evidence that all groups in the country face persecution. Officials maintained that vague or general fears of the Taliban were insufficient grounds for asylum.
At the same time, the department has admitted that rejected applicants cannot be returned to Afghanistan, as the UK does not recognise the Taliban as a legitimate government. The Taliban, for their part, have refused to accept passports or documents issued by the former Afghan embassy in London. Since 2021, at least nine Afghans are believed to have returned voluntarily.
A Home Office spokesperson told the newspaper that the previous government had left behind a chaotic asylum system, leaving thousands of people in uncertainty. The official said the current government was working to reform the system by removing those with no right to remain, while allowing others to rebuild their lives. The spokesperson acknowledged that women could face Taliban persecution and said most Afghan women seeking asylum were accepted.
According to official data, more than 8,000 Afghans arrived in the UK by small boats in the first half of this year.
