AGIK v The Secretary of State for The Home Department

Facts

The appellant, AGIK, is a citizen of Afghanistan of Pashtun ethnicity, born in Laghman Province. He is illiterate, never attended school and worked as a shepherd before leaving Afghanistan. His case was that his father was a member of the Arbaki, a local security force supporting the former Afghan government, serving as a checkpoint commander responsible for some five or six soldiers, and that from about the age of 15 he assisted his father by passing on information about Taliban movements which he learned through his work as a shepherd. He said he was briefly detained by the Taliban after being caught passing information, that warning letters were issued requiring him and his father to surrender, and that threats were made by telephone. His brother had earlier been killed by the Taliban for inviting Arbaki members onto his property. He hid at his maternal uncle's home in Kabul for one to two months before leaving Afghanistan in August 2021 after the Taliban took power, travelling through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland and France to the United Kingdom. He made a protection claim on 17 August 2023, which the Secretary of State refused on 7 January 2025, and he lodged notice of appeal on 21 February 2025. The appeal was advanced on asylum, humanitarian protection and Articles 2, 3 and 8 ECHR grounds.