Thousands of Afghans are still having to wait for an appointment to apply for a German visa to join their families, who have already left the country. The security situation as well as human rights in Afghanistan have worsened since the August 2021 takeover by the Taliban.
The German interior ministry is considering to introduce limitations to admission numbers of Afghan refugees. According to the news magazine Der Spiegel, a maximum of 5,000 Afghans considered to be at risk in their home country will be admitted per year under the plans.
Hundreds of Afghans have had their asylum applications refused by Belgian authorities. They could face deportation to Afghanistan, where the Belgian Commissioner General for Refugees says the security situation has improved.
Cartoonist Hossein Rezaei was evacuated on one of the last planes leaving Afghanistan before the Taliban seized power. For the past 10 years, he has been using his drawings to document life in his home country.
The German government has admitted that a number of Afghans who were due to be airlifted out of Afghanistan died before they could be evacuated to Germany. They had worked for the German forces and had been offered safety in Germany following the Taliban takeover.
The German human rights organization Pro Asyl published a public appeal for help on behalf of 33 women's rights activists in Afghanistan. The organization pleaded for the women to be accepted immediately by the German government without further delay.
Afghans working with the journalists have also been released. The Taliban has imposed strict measures on media and free expression since taking power last August.
The German government is being urged to speed up efforts to bring Afghans at risk from the Taliban to safety. Three refugee groups have called for "swift and decisive action."
The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) published a report stating that the number of asylum applications filed across the EU in November 2021 was the second highest for the last five years. The security situation in Afghanistan was the main cause for the increase.
A university in Madrid, which has been offering courses to young people from areas of conflict for five years, has given 40 Afghans the chance to start studying and learning vocational skills.
Sohail Ahmadi was just two months old, when his father handed him to a soldier over the wall at Kabul airport, during the evacuation of thousands of Afghans in August. In the chaos, the baby was lost and looked after by another family. Now Sohail has been located and handed to his grandfather.
Going forward, Germany will allow Afghan asylum seekers to pursue language and integration classes even before a decision is granted on their applications. The change in law came as government assessments showed that refugees from Afghanistan are likely to be allowed to remain in Germany for the time being.