The applicant, an Afghan national from the Herat province, requested international protection in Germany, which was rejected by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The BAMF found that there were no grounds prohibiting his removal. The applicant appealed the decision before the Administrative Court of Wiesbaden, which ordered the BAMF with judgment of 9 August 2021 to grant the applicant subsidiary protection, as at the time of the decision, an internal armed conflict existed in the Province Herat between the Afghan government and the Taliban. The BAMF appealed the judgment before the Higher Administrative Court of Hesse.

The Higher Administrative Court of Hesse set aside the judgment, finding that, at the relevant time of the oral hearing, there was no longer an internal armed conflict in Afghanistan. The conflict had ended with the Taliban's seizure of power in August 2021. The recurring conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan did not reach the level of intensity required for subsidiary protection to be granted, particularly not in the applicant's province of origin, Herat, in western Afghanistan. The court also held that there were no sufficient indications that Afghanistan might become involved in the current Iran-war.

The court further found that in the case of young, healthy, and employable Afghan nationals, particularly where, as in the applicant's case, they have a family network in Afghanistan, there were no grounds for establishing a prohibition on deportation due to the humanitarian conditions in Afghanistan. Despite the difficult living conditions in Afghanistan, the applicant would not be exposed to a situation of existential hardship. The court held that there were no other grounds to grant international protection in the form of refugee status or subsidiary protection.