Britain to start sending Afghan asylum-seekers back home

Britain is to begin flying failed Afghan asylum-seekers back to their homeland because the Home Office believes living conditions have improved and the country is now safe.

The Home Office minister Beverley Hughes announced the move yesterday, saying the Britain would no longer give automatic leave to remain to asylum-seekers arriving from Afghanistan.

She said she was considering offering a package of support to failed Afghan asylum-seekers who agreed to be flown home.

Ms Hughes said: "The world is a changing place, and the situation in Afghanistan has improved considerably. We believe that improvement will be sustained, as shown by the recent establishment of the transitional government."

She said that by offering a package of support to returned Afghans, Britain would be helping them "make their return sustainable so they can help rebuild their country".

But the initiative, predicted by The Independent earlier this year, would also help immigration chiefs to meet government targets of returning 30,000 failed asylum-seekers a year. They currently return barely a third of that number.

The return of Afghan asylum-seekers would be the first from Britain in seven years. Claimants from the troubled state were automatically given four years leave to remain in Britain, but the Government reduced the period of stay to 12 months last April because of improved political stability.

Last year Afghanistan was the chief source country for asylum-seekers coming to the United Kingdom, with 9,190 applications.