In order to determine that internal protection is available in a particular part of the applicant’s country of origin, three cumulative criteria have to be met: ‘safety’, ‘travel and admittance’ and ‘reasonableness to settle’.

The conclusions from the assessment of the three criteria are outlined below.

Safety

The safety criterion would in general not be met.

In exceptional cases, such as when the well-founded fear of persecution or real risk of serious harm is linked to a local or private actor who would not have the capacity to trace and target the applicant in the area of relocation, the safety criterion may be satisfied.

Travel and admittance

The existence of Taliban checkpoints in and around cities would impact the safety of travel for profiles targeted by the Taliban.

In addition, the restrictions posed on women’s freedom of movement may result in the requirements of safety and legality of travel not being met, in particular for single women.

For other individuals, the travel and admittance requirement is likely to be satisfied.

Reasonableness to settle

The dire humanitarian situation in the country has a significant impact on all elements considered under the requirement of reasonableness to settle in a different part of the country, including food security, housing and shelter, basic healthcare, and means of basic subsistence. Therefore, the reasonableness to settle criterion would generally not be met.