Afghans could have their asylum request rejected if it is judged they face “no real risk of harm” at home, under new Home Office guidance.

       But they will not be returned to Afghanistan if their asylum applications are rejected as removals have been suspended since the Taliban takeover.

       The new guidance says that in order to be granted protection in the UK, Afghan asylum seekers must be able to show that there are “specific reasons over and above simply being a civilian for being affected by the indiscriminate violence”.

       It claims that indiscriminate violence in Afghanistan is “not at such a high level that it represents, in general, a real risk of harm” to people sent back there.

       It states that it is “open to question as to whether there continues to be a situation of international or internal armed conflict” and that “should indiscriminate violence be taking place, it is only in some areas of Afghanistan and is to a far lesser extent following the Taliban takeover”.

       A Home Office spokesman said that it was not enforcing returns to Afghanistan for those who have been refused asylum.

       Asylum seekers who have their applications rejected while deportations remain suspended will likely be kept in immigration centres.

       It comes amid mounting concern over Taliban rule in Afghanistan since the group took power on 15 August, with several reports of human rights abuses taking place across the country in recent weeks.

       The Taliban killed 13 people from the ethnic Hazara community, including a teenage girl, in a single massacre in August, Amnesty International said this week.

       Campaigners have criticised the new guidance because they said it failed to “reflect the situation on the ground” and “ignored many threats to basic human rights”.

       Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action, said it was “perverse and immoral” for the Government to consider refusing protection to people from Afghanistan.

       The Government has pledged to take 5,000 Afghan refugees in the first year and 20,000 in the long term, prioritising women and girls, as well as religious and other minorities who face “tyranny and oppression” under the Taliban regime.

       This is on top of its ARAP scheme in which Afghans who have worked for the British or their contractors have been granted asylum and flown out from Kabul.