Afghans Largest Group Applying for EU Asylum in September

Afghan nationals were the largest single group who applied for asylum in the European Union, Switzerland, and Norway in September, following the country’s fall to the Taliban in August.

The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) reported that some 17,000 Afghan nationals had applied for asylum in the EU, Norway, and Switzerland in the month following the Taliban takeover, a 72 per cent increase compared to the previous month.

According to the EASO, part of the increase could be attributed to the mass evacuation efforts at the end of August that saw thousands of Afghan nationals airlifted out of the country as the capital Kabul fell to Taliban forces.

After Afghans, nationals from Syria, Iraq, Bangladesh, and Turkey made up the top five nationalities applying for asylum in September, and that a total of 71,200 asylum claims were submitted that month, while 394,300 cases still remain pending.

In September, the recognition rate for asylum claims stood at 41 per cent, with three out of five migrants receiving refugee status while the remaining two-fifths were given “subsidiary protection”. A total of 86 per cent of Afghan asylum seekers were granted asylum.

Since the fall of the country to the Taliban, many have feared a wave of mass migration from Afghanistan to European countries. Humanitarian worker Sybille Schnehage, who has worked in Afghanistan for decades, predicted that as many as three million Afghans may attempt to cross into Europe in the near future.

A report from the European Union border agency Frontex last month revealed that in the first ten months of this year, the EU has seen a 70 per cent growth in illegal migrant border crossings for a total of 160,000 from January to October.

While Afghan asylum seekers grew substantially in September, Tunisians have been the largest single group to enter the EU illegally in 2021, mainly through the central Mediterranean route which leads to Italy.

Several countries have prepared border fortifications ahead of a possible new wave of mass migration for Afghanistan in recent months.

In Greece, the government increased the number of personnel along the land border with Turkey. Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis stated in August that his country would not become a gateway to Europe as it was during the height of the 2015 migrant crisis.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com