FS v The Secretary of State for the Home Department

Facts

The appellant, FS, is an Afghan national who claimed asylum on entry to the UK on 13 June 2023. His case was that his brother was a local commander in the Arbakyan, a local militia police force that supported the previous regime and fought the Taliban. He said he had supported his brother's work, including by fighting the Taliban alongside him, and that the family had received numerous Taliban threats because of his brother's role. He said his brother was killed shortly before the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, and that his family arranged for him to flee within days of the Taliban taking power. On 27 June 2025 the Secretary of State refused the claim. The refusal gave four reasons for finding the account not credible: it was implausible that the Taliban would write threatening letters to an illiterate man; his account of his brother's role had changed; he had not obtained further documents from Afghanistan; and his brother's travelling to fight was inconsistent with the Arbakyan's local character. The respondent accepted that, if the account were true, no sufficient protection or internal relocation would be available. On appeal the appellant produced documents from Afghanistan, which the respondent's review said were inconsistent with the claim. At the hearing the Presenting Officer accepted that credibility was the sole live issue and that the appeal should be allowed if the appellant was found credible. The appellant was unrepresented and gave evidence through a Pashtu interpreter.