Pakistan Releases 26 Afghan Prisoners, Says Taliban

The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees announced the release of 26 Afghan prisoners from a prison in Quetta city of Pakistan.

The ministry stressed that these people, who had been imprisoned for illegal stay in Pakistan, entered Afghanistan through the Spin Boldak border crossing.

The Taliban's Ministry of Refugees has also said that more than 550 Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan from the Spin Boldak border in the past week.

Following the Taliban’s takeover of power in Afghanistan in 2021, many Afghan citizens including human rights activists, journalists, and people at risk, fled to neighbouring countries. Recently, many Afghans who sought refuge in Pakistan "fearing persecution” have faced a wave of "arbitrary arrests and threats of deportation".

Earlier, refugee rights groups asked Islamabad to stop the wave of arrests of these Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

On World Refugee Day this year, Amnesty International called on the government of Pakistan to stop harassing and arbitrary arrests of Afghan refugees and migrants.