Sweden has announced that it was stopping all deportations to Afghanistan due to the rapidly worsening situation in the war-torn country.
"The decision is effective immediately and will be in force until further notice," Carl Bexelius, head of legal affairs at the Swedish Migration Agency, said on July 16.
Some 7,000 Afghan asylum seekers in Sweden are currently awaiting deportation.
The agency said it would pause all planned expulsions as the situation in Afghanistan had quickly deteriorated “after the Taliban movement has taken control of large parts of the country.”
In early July, Afghan officials called on European countries to stop the deportation of Afghan asylum seekers for at least three months.
Finland announced earlier this week it would not deport anyone to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is facing a new crisis as Taliban militants snap up territory across the countryside, stretching government forces and leading to a fresh wave of internally displaced families, complicated by a renewed outbreak of COVID-19.
The spike in violence in Afghanistan comes as U.S. and international forces are withdrawing from the country after two decades.