Anniversary of the seizure of power: Don't forget Afghanistan!
Four years after the Taliban seized power, the humanitarian and human rights situation in Afghanistan is catastrophic. Millions of children suffer from hunger, exploitation, and a lack of education. Those who have fought for freedom and democracy live in constant danger. Women and girls are systematically deprived of their rights.
"After the withdrawal of international troops, the Afghan population was promised protection and support. Today, however, we are seeing that these promises have hardly been fulfilled – Afghanistan is being abandoned," explains Joshua Hofert, board member of Terre des Hommes . "The massive decline in international aid is further exacerbating the hardship for children and families. Funding for our aid projects is also increasingly lacking. The situation has become life-threatening for many children and families."
According to UNICEF, more than 3.5 million children under the age of five in Afghanistan are acutely malnourished—900,000 of them so severely that their lives are in danger. Many parents see no other option than to send their children to work or marry them off early so they can survive.
The situation is further exacerbated by mass deportations: According to the UNHCR, in 2025, approximately 2.1 million Afghans had already returned from Iran and Pakistan or been deported to Afghanistan. The already inadequate structures for receiving returnees are now completely overwhelmed. In many places, the supply of food, drinking water, and medical assistance, as well as the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and other dangers, are not guaranteed.
Recording is currently stopped
The situation is particularly dangerous for Afghan human rights activists and former local staff of German organizations. Some of them have received a promise of admission to Germany. Relying on this promise, many of them sold their belongings and left the country for Pakistan. However, the German government has currently suspended admissions. Since then, many people – predominantly women and children – have been stuck in Pakistan despite Germany's promise to admit them. If they are not brought to Germany quickly, they face deportation back to Afghanistan, where they face torture, ill-treatment, and other serious human rights violations, as a recently published UN report confirms.
"The federal government must keep its promises to accept refugees – anything else would be a breach of promise with dramatic consequences for those affected. Thousands of people are at acute risk, including former employees of Terre des Hommes projects who have campaigned for children's and women's rights. Otherwise, they will lose their last hope of protection," explains Joshua Hofert.
Update 14.8.: Situation in Pakistan escalates
Pakistani security forces are currently cracking down on Afghans with valid German asylum applications. Large-scale raids are underway in Islamabad to deport people to Afghanistan. Numerous human rights activists and former local staff members of German organizations have been affected – despite having been granted asylum in Germany. Even minors without parents have been arrested, families separated, and deported. Their lives are in acute danger.
"The fact that even people with valid German acceptance letters are now being deported is a humanitarian scandal. The German government must act immediately, massively increase the pressure, bring those affected to safety in Germany, and keep its acceptance promises," said Joshua Hofert.
Take action now!
Join us in putting pressure on the issue: Write to the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, or your member of the Bundestag. Use our letter template and the contact links – every message can help. Download the letter template here and insert the text:
Terre des Hommes demands
- Humanitarian aid and development cooperation for Afghanistan, especially for women and children, must be urgently increased.
- The German government must work internationally to stop forced returns to Afghanistan.
- The Federal Government must keep its admission commitments and continue the admission programs for Afghanistan.
A poem about Afghanistan
Khorshid*, a young Afghan woman who now lives in Germany, wrote a poem to mark the anniversary. Terre des Hommes has been granted permission to publish it:
August 15, 2021 – The day I finally lost my home
A cry against forgetting. Against silence. Against indifference.
I will never forget August 15, 2021.
Never.
On that day, the Taliban took Kabul.
On that day, not just a city fell—it fell a country.
My homeland fell.
I didn't lose it for the first time—that happened when I had to flee.
But on that day, I lost it for good. Not because I fled. But because there is no Afghanistan left for me to ever reclaim.
What remains is a place without hope. Without freedom. Without a future.
Since that day, a crime has been committed—
day after day. Hour after hour. Life after life.
*Name changed
The complete poem