NEARLY one in five asylum-seekers stranded in northern France are from Afghanistan, new research suggests, leading charities to accuse the Tories of failing Afghans one year on from the Taliban takeover. 

A survey by refugee support charity Care4Calais reveals that 18 per cent of those living in squalid camps in Calais and Dunkirk are Afghan. They include several teenagers, the youngest of whom is 15. 

This makes Afghans the second most numerous group among the refugees after Sudanese nationals, who make up 46 per cent of those stranded in northern France. Of the 49 Afghans surveyed, 87 per cent said they had family or friends in Britain whom they hoped to be reunited with.