The UK has sent 13 Afghan nationals back to their home country in the past year and refused asylum to more than 400, official figures show.

       Government data published on Thursday shows that 497 Afghans in the UK were placed in immigration detention in the year to June 2021, with 218 detained in the first six months of this year.

       Thirteen of those detained were subsequently returned to Afghanistan, five of whom were removed since the start of 2021, two between April and June, according to the figures.

       The data shows that of 1,089 asylum decisions for Afghan nationals in the year to June 2021, 401 were refused - 140 of which were refused in 2021.

       As of 30 June, more than 3,000 Afghans in the UK were awaiting an initial decision on their asylum claim. The Home Office has refused to say if it has halted the processing of their claims, despite deleting all key guidance documents that are used to decide them last week.

       The government has meanwhile “paused” deportations of failed asylum seekers to Kabul but made no further commitment, despite announcing a new resettlement scheme that aims to bring 5,000 Afghans to the UK over the coming year.

       The figures showing that Afghans claiming asylum in Britain have continued to be refused sanctuary, detained and removed in recent months has prompted alarm given the Taliban takeover in the country.

       Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action, said: “The thirteen people the UK has forcibly removed to Afghanistan this year and the thousands of others over the past decade will be at extreme risk from the Taliban.

       “Where is the plan to help these people escape and give them safe passage to the UK? If Priti Patel wants to ensure she’s not sent people to execution and torture she needs to act urgently.”

       It comes as Britain makes one last push to bring nearly 2,000 Afghan interpreters and staff out of the Afghan capital on Thursday in what is expected to be the final day of the RAF’s airlift operation.

       With tensions rising as the 31 August deadline for the withdrawal of foreign forces approaches, one military source said there was “a very high risk of a terrorist attack” by suicide bomb or small arms fire against the UK’s 1,000-strong contingent in the final days before their departure.