Shabana Mahmood has refused to rule out sending rejected Afghan asylum seekers back to the Taliban-controlled country.

The home secretary said she is “monitoring very closely” talks between Kabul and EU countries about a returns programme for refused claimants. She also indicated that “additional conversations” about Afghan returns were happening inside Whitehall.

If a returns programme was brought in it would be a reversal of UK current policy, and would shock humanitarian groups.

The United Nations last month described Afghanistan as a “graveyard for human rights” that enforces “gender apartheid” using torture and corporal punishment.

Women and girls aged over 11 are excluded from education and banned from most forms of paid employment.

Under rules in place in the UK, the government is unable to return refused asylum seekers to Afghanistan because the UK does not recognise the Taliban-led government.

Mahmood spoke out days after the Swedish government confirmed that it had facilitated talks between Kabul and Brussels over a returns deal which is due to take place within weeks.

Asked by reporters in Dunkirk on Thursday if she would be open to holding similar talks with the Taliban, Mahmood said: “We’re monitoring very closely what is happening in terms of other countries, whether that’s European partners or others, and conversations they are having with other countries including Afghanistan.

“I’m not going to get into any additional discussions that are happening in government – we’ll have more to say about that in the future – but of course we monitor closely and we work with our partners in terms of the efforts that we all need to make collectively to try to get agreements.

“I’m not ruling it in or out. I’m not going to give a running commentary on additional conversations that are happening.”

The government is attempting to drive down the number of people arriving via small boats crossing the Channel.

Afghans were the most common nationality arriving by small boat in the year ending June 2025, with the number of Afghan arrivals at 6,360, 18% higher than the previous year.

Between 2022 and 2024, about 29,600 Afghan nationals claimed asylum in the UK.

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 for recognition as a refugee was introduced in 2024.

Unless rejected Afghans leave voluntarily, they remain in the UK without any legal status.

Mahmood’s comments follow two trips by European representatives to Afghanistan for exploratory talks on possible deportations of Afghan men and women from the EU to their home country.

More than 20 EU countries are reportedly expressing an interest in beginning returns to Kabul. An EU-Belgian mission to Kabul took place in January. Germany has deported more than 100 criminals back to Afghanistan since 2024.

Dr Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said that if a person has been refused asylum, the government has already taken the judgment that they can live safely in their country of origin and that returning them does not put them at risk.

“In practice, many countries do not return even refused asylum seekers to Afghanistan, although some others have been willing to do so, such as Germany,” she said.

The UN report released last month highlighted a dramatic worsening of conditions for Afghans, but especially women and girls, in the six months to January.

Journalists have been arrested, tortured and murdered, women civil servants were fired without due process, and the authorities have also shut beauty salons, gyms and other communal spaces.

Women are also prevented from walking in public parks, travelling without a male chaperone, must cover themselves completely when leaving the house and are not allowed to be heard speaking in public.

Keir Starmer has made halving violence against women and girls in the UK within a decade a central mission of his government.

Mahmood has ramped up hardline measures to make it difficult for people hoping to claim asylum after arriving in small boats.

She has introduced a “one in, one out” deal to send people arriving by small boat back to France in exchange for someone granted asylum. So far 551 have arrived, and 561 have been deported, a Home Office source said.

Those granted asylum face a 20-year, rather than five-year, waiting period to apply for permanent settlement.

Last month, Mahmood announced a ban on student visas for people from Afghanistan and three other countries after a surge in asylum claims from people “in country” after finishing their studies.