State secretary, Ministry of Justice, Ankie Broekers-Knol, on Wednesday informed parliament in The Hague that the Netherlands has decided not to deport rejected asylum seekers to Afghanistan for the next six months.

Broekers-Knol said this was due to the advance of the Taliban in the country as the situation has deteriorated considerably.

Furthermore, no further decisions on deportation cases would be taken in the next 12 months.

The state secretary said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was reassessing the security situation while a final decision on deportations would be made.

Afghan asylum seekers committing crimes be sent home, German

After the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops, the militant Islamist Taliban have taken over numerous provincial towns.

Recently the government had urged the authorities in Afghanistan to continue accepting deported asylum seekers.

Members of parliament from three coalition parties as well as refugee organizations had sharply criticized this and demanded a stop to deportations.

On Tuesday, the EU ambassadors in Afghanistan had also advised against deportations to the crisis-hit country.