France halts deportations of Afghan asylum seekers

France last month suspended expelling Afghan migrants whose asylum applications had been rejected, due to the deteriorating security situation in the country as the Taliban presses an offensive, the government said.

The French Interior Ministry told AFP in a statement on Thursday that the policy had been in place since early July, after similar announcements of the suspension of such expulsions by Germany and the Netherlands.

"We are watching the situation closely alongside our European partners," the French Interior Ministry said.

Afghans in 2020 had accounted for the most asylum requests in France, with 8,886 applications.

Germany and the Netherlands said on Wednesday they have stopped forced repatriations of Afghan migrants because of deteriorating security in Afghanistan, a sharp change from their previous position.

READ MORE:US intel warns Taliban could capture Kabul within 90 days

Denmark to evacuate embassy employees

Officials had said as late as Tuesday that both governments had joined their counterparts in Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Greece to write to the EU's executive arm saying they should be allowed to press on with expulsions of Afghan migrants if their asylum bids fail.

Afghanistan urged the EU in July to cease forced deportations of Afghan migrants for three months as security forces battle the Taliban offensive ahead of the full US military pullout from Afghanistan on August 31.

Meanwhile, Denmark has agreed to evacuate current and former employees of the Danish embassy or Danish armed forces in Afghanistan due to the worsening security situation, the government said late on Wednesday.

Denmark will grant people who have been employed in the previous two years and their close relatives temporary residence permits for two years, the government said.

"The security situation in Afghanistan is serious. The Taliban are gaining ground and developments are accelerating faster than many had feared," the government said in a statement.

"We have a common responsibility to help the Afghans who are now threatened due to their connection to and contribution to Denmark's engagement in Afghanistan," it said.

READ MORE:War-weary Afghans struggle to make ends meet as thousands are displaced

Taliban is gaining ground rapidly

The Danish Defence Ministry said last week that 40 former and current employees at the Danish embassy in Kabul and four translators had asked for help.

Denmark, a close ally of the United States, has fought alongside US forces in Afghanistan since 2002.

The Taliban have overrun 10 provincial capitals in a week in a lightning offensive, the latest the strategic Afghan city of Ghazni, just 150 km (95 miles) from Kabul.

The government has now effectively lost most of northern and western Afghanistan and is left holding a scattered collection of contested cities also dangerously at risk of falling to the Taliban.

The conflict has escalated dramatically since May, when US-led forces began the final stage of a troop withdrawal due to end later this month following a 20-year occupation.

READ MORE: The Taliban ‘won’ because the world gave up on Afghanistan too soon