130 Afghans Waiting for Resettlement in US Deported by Pakistan
Reuters, citing an advocacy group, reported that Pakistan has deported at least 130 Afghan citizens who were waiting for resettlement in the US.
This media organisation quoted sources and wrote that Pakistani authorities ignored the US embassy protection letters given to the Afghan nationals.
Shawn VanDiver, the head of the 'Afghan Evac' organisation, revealed that, according to data and details provided by the US Embassy in Islamabad, the Pakistani police arrested 230 Afghan immigrants and approximately 80 of them were subsequently released.
Following the expulsion of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, the US spokesperson of the State Department stated that Washington had provided Pakistan with a list of Afghans who are eligible for resettlement in the US.
VanDiver and two Western diplomatic sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that local Pakistani officials had ignored the US list in many instances.
Reuters interviewed several Afghan families whose members were deported despite presenting a letter to the police. One asylum seeker, who is not named for security reasons by Reuters, shared that the police came to his home and didn’t accept the letter from the US embassy.
The members of this family have been deported from Pakistan and are now residing in Kabul.
US officials informed Reuters that they are trying to reach thousands of Afghans in Pakistan through an emergency hotline on the messaging app WhatsApp, available in Dari, Pashto, and English.
The United Nations has announced that more than 450,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan and many of them are living near the border in difficult winter conditions.
The Taliban, opposing mass deportations of migrants from Pakistan, express their support for individuals returning to the country.
Islamabad says it is struggling with economic and security crises and cannot host the 600,000 immigrants who came to the country after the Taliban took over.
