Taliban Finalize Draft Asylum Law

DID Press: Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees says it has finalized a draft asylum law, which will soon be submitted to the Ministry of Justice for legal review and approval.

According to the ministry, a meeting was held on Wednesday, 15 July, to review the draft legislation. Abdul Rahman Rashid, the Taliban’s Deputy Minister for Refugees, said the law should be based on “Islamic and Sharia principles” and establish a framework for granting asylum in accordance with those principles.

The ministry said the draft was prepared by a specialized committee and will be forwarded to the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice for the next stage of the legislative process. No details of the proposed law have yet been released.

The move comes as Afghanistan remains one of the world’s largest refugee-producing countries. Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, millions of Afghans have fled to neighboring countries and beyond.

According to United Nations reports, millions of Afghans are living as refugees or migrants in Iran and Pakistan, while hundreds of thousands have also relocated to Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia, in what has become the country’s largest migration wave in decades.