By AFP
April 9, 2025
Islamabad wants to deport 800,000 Afghans
- Copyright AFP Abdul BASIT
Israr AHMED KHAN with Abdul BASIT in Chaman
Convoys of Afghans pressured to leave Pakistan are driving to the border, fearing the “humiliation” of arrest, as the government’s crackdown on migrants sees widespread public support.
Islamabad wants to deport 800,000 Afghans after cancelling their residence permits — the second phase of a deportation programme which has already pushed out around 800,000 undocumented Afghans since 2023.
According to the UN refugee agency, more than 24,665 Afghans have left Pakistan since April 1, 10,741 of whom were deported.
“People say the police will come and carry out raids. That is the fear. Everyone is worried about that,” Rahmat Ullah, an Afghan migrant in the megacity Karachi told AFP.
“For a man with a family, nothing is worse than seeing the police take his women from his home. Can anything be more humiliating than this? It would be better if they just killed us instead,” added Nizam Gull, as he backed his belongings and prepared to return to Afghanistan.
Abdul Shah Bukhari, a community leader in one of the largest informal Afghan settlements in the coastal city, has watched multiple buses leave daily for the Afghan border, about 700 kilometres away.
The maze of makeshift homes has grown over decades with the arrival of families fleeing successive wars in Afghanistan. But now, he said “people are leaving voluntarily”.
“What is the need to cause distress or harassment?” said Bukhari.
– ‘Harassed every day’ –
Ghulam Hazrat, a truck driver, said he reached the Chaman border crossing with Afghanistan after days of police harassment in Karachi.
“We had to leave behind our home. We were being harassed every day.”
In Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on the Afghan border, police climb mosque minarets to order Afghans to leave: “The stay of Afghan nationals in Pakistan has expired. They are requested to return to Afghanistan voluntarily.”
Police warnings are not only aimed at Afghans, but also at Pakistani landlords.
“Two police officers came to my house on Sunday and told me that if there are any Afghan nationals living here they should be evicted,” Farhan Ahmad told AFP.
Human Rights Watch has slammed “abusive tactics” used to pressure Afghans to return to their country, “where they risk persecution by the Taliban and face dire economic conditions”.
In September 2023, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans poured across the border into Afghanistan in the days leading up to a deadline to leave, after weeks of police raids and the demolition of homes.
– ‘That is their country’ –
After decades of hosting millions of Afghan refugees, there is widespread support among the Pakistani public for the deportations.
“They eat here, live here, but are against us. Terrorism is coming from there (Afghanistan), and they should leave; that is their country. We did a lot for them,” Pervaiz Akhtar, a university teacher, told AFP at a market in the capital Islamabad.
“Come with a valid visa, and then come and do business with us,” said Muhammad Shafiq, a 55-year-old businessman.
His views echo the Pakistani government, which for months has blamed rising violence in the border regions on “Afghan-backed perpetrators” and argued that the country can no longer support such a large migrant population.
However, analysts have said the deportation drive is political.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have soured since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
“The timing and manner of their deportation indicates it is part of Pakistan’s policy of mounting pressure on the Taliban,” Maleeha Lodhi, the former permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN told AFP.
“This should have been done in a humane, voluntary and gradual way.”
Convoys of Afghans pressured to leave Pakistan are driving to the border, fearing the “humiliation” of arrest, as the government’s crackdown on migrants sees widespread public support.
Islamabad wants to deport 800,000 Afghans after cancelling their residence permits — the second phase of a deportation programme which has already pushed out around 800,000 undocumented Afghans since 2023.
According to the UN refugee agency, more than 24,665 Afghans have left Pakistan since April 1, 10,741 of whom were deported.
“People say the police will come and carry out raids. That is the fear. Everyone is worried about that,” Rahmat Ullah, an Afghan migrant in the megacity Karachi told AFP.
“For a man with a family, nothing is worse than seeing the police take his women from his home. Can anything be more humiliating than this? It would be better if they just killed us instead,” added Nizam Gull, as he backed his belongings and prepared to return to Afghanistan.
Abdul Shah Bukhari, a community leader in one of the largest informal Afghan settlements in the coastal city, has watched multiple buses leave daily for the Afghan border, about 700 kilometres away.
The maze of makeshift homes has grown over decades with the arrival of families fleeing successive wars in Afghanistan. But now, he said “people are leaving voluntarily”.
“What is the need to cause distress or harassment?” said Bukhari.
– ‘Harassed every day’ –
Ghulam Hazrat, a truck driver, said he reached the Chaman border crossing with Afghanistan after days of police harassment in Karachi.
“We had to leave behind our home. We were being harassed every day.”
In Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on the Afghan border, police climb mosque minarets to order Afghans to leave: “The stay of Afghan nationals in Pakistan has expired. They are requested to return to Afghanistan voluntarily.”
Police warnings are not only aimed at Afghans, but also at Pakistani landlords.
“Two police officers came to my house on Sunday and told me that if there are any Afghan nationals living here they should be evicted,” Farhan Ahmad told AFP.
Human Rights Watch has slammed “abusive tactics” used to pressure Afghans to return to their country, “where they risk persecution by the Taliban and face dire economic conditions”.
In September 2023, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans poured across the border into Afghanistan in the days leading up to a deadline to leave, after weeks of police raids and the demolition of homes.
– ‘That is their country’ –
After decades of hosting millions of Afghan refugees, there is widespread support among the Pakistani public for the deportations.
“They eat here, live here, but are against us. Terrorism is coming from there (Afghanistan), and they should leave; that is their country. We did a lot for them,” Pervaiz Akhtar, a university teacher, told AFP at a market in the capital Islamabad.
“Come with a valid visa, and then come and do business with us,” said Muhammad Shafiq, a 55-year-old businessman.
His views echo the Pakistani government, which for months has blamed rising violence in the border regions on “Afghan-backed perpetrators” and argued that the country can no longer support such a large migrant population.
However, analysts have said the deportation drive is political.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have soured since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
“The timing and manner of their deportation indicates it is part of Pakistan’s policy of mounting pressure on the Taliban,” Maleeha Lodhi, the former permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN told AFP.
“This should have been done in a humane, voluntary and gradual way.”
Kabul slams Pakistan’s ‘violence’ against Afghans pressured to leave
By AFP
April 8, 2025
Thousands of Afghans have crossed the border from Pakistan in recent days, the United Nations and Taliban officials said, as Islamabad ramped up pressure for them to leave - Copyright AFP Abdul BASIT
The Taliban government accused Pakistan on Tuesday of violently expelling Afghans after Islamabad cancelled hundreds of thousands of residence permits, pressuring families across the border.
Islamabad announced at the start of March that 800,000 Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) would be cancelled — the second phase of a deportation programme which has already expelled around 800,000 undocumented Afghans.
“The mistreatment of them (Afghans) by neighbouring countries is unacceptable and intolerable,” the Taliban Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation said on X, calling for a joint agreement to facilitate repatriations.
An average of 4,000 Afghans crossed the border from Pakistan on Sunday and Monday, “far higher than the March daily average of just 77”, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told AFP.
The new phase in Pakistan’s campaign to repatriate Afghans “could affect up to 1.6 million undocumented Afghan migrants and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders during 2025”, the agency said.
The United Nations says nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan: 800,000 had their Pakistani ACC residency cards cancelled in April and 1.3 million still have residence permits until June 30 because they are registered with the UN refugees agency UNHCR. Others have no papers.
“It is with great regret that Afghan refugees are being subjected to violence,” the Taliban refugees ministry said.
“All refugees should be allowed to take their wealth, belongings and household goods with them to their own country,” it added.
“No one should use refugees as tools for their political goals.”
Afghans who crossed the border in recent days told AFP that they left without being able to take all their belongings or money, while others were rounded up and taken directly to the border.
“My only crime is that I’m Afghan,” Shah Mahmood, who was born in northern Afghanistan, told AFP on Monday after crossing the Torkham border point.
“I had papers and they ripped them up.”
Human rights activists have for months been reporting harassment and extortion by Pakistani security forces against Afghans.
Moniza Kakar, a lawyer in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi, said that officials “are picking and arresting people randomly, from different places”.
“There is no proper mechanism to shift the whole family,” she told AFP.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have soured since the Taliban takeover, fuelled by a sharp rise in violence in Pakistan along the Afghan border.
Pakistan’s interior ministry said it had issued “strict instructions” for the facilitation of Afghans’ exits, including “that no one should be harassed in this process”.
In September 2023, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans poured across the border into Afghanistan in the days leading up to a deadline to leave, after weeks of police raids.
By AFP
April 8, 2025
Thousands of Afghans have crossed the border from Pakistan in recent days, the United Nations and Taliban officials said, as Islamabad ramped up pressure for them to leave - Copyright AFP Abdul BASIT
The Taliban government accused Pakistan on Tuesday of violently expelling Afghans after Islamabad cancelled hundreds of thousands of residence permits, pressuring families across the border.
Islamabad announced at the start of March that 800,000 Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) would be cancelled — the second phase of a deportation programme which has already expelled around 800,000 undocumented Afghans.
“The mistreatment of them (Afghans) by neighbouring countries is unacceptable and intolerable,” the Taliban Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation said on X, calling for a joint agreement to facilitate repatriations.
An average of 4,000 Afghans crossed the border from Pakistan on Sunday and Monday, “far higher than the March daily average of just 77”, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) told AFP.
The new phase in Pakistan’s campaign to repatriate Afghans “could affect up to 1.6 million undocumented Afghan migrants and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders during 2025”, the agency said.
The United Nations says nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan: 800,000 had their Pakistani ACC residency cards cancelled in April and 1.3 million still have residence permits until June 30 because they are registered with the UN refugees agency UNHCR. Others have no papers.
“It is with great regret that Afghan refugees are being subjected to violence,” the Taliban refugees ministry said.
“All refugees should be allowed to take their wealth, belongings and household goods with them to their own country,” it added.
“No one should use refugees as tools for their political goals.”
Afghans who crossed the border in recent days told AFP that they left without being able to take all their belongings or money, while others were rounded up and taken directly to the border.
“My only crime is that I’m Afghan,” Shah Mahmood, who was born in northern Afghanistan, told AFP on Monday after crossing the Torkham border point.
“I had papers and they ripped them up.”
Human rights activists have for months been reporting harassment and extortion by Pakistani security forces against Afghans.
Moniza Kakar, a lawyer in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi, said that officials “are picking and arresting people randomly, from different places”.
“There is no proper mechanism to shift the whole family,” she told AFP.
Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have soured since the Taliban takeover, fuelled by a sharp rise in violence in Pakistan along the Afghan border.
Pakistan’s interior ministry said it had issued “strict instructions” for the facilitation of Afghans’ exits, including “that no one should be harassed in this process”.
In September 2023, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans poured across the border into Afghanistan in the days leading up to a deadline to leave, after weeks of police raids.
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