Pakistan Launches New Wave Of Arrests Targeting Afghan Migrants In Islamabad

The visit comes amid a sharp rise in deportations from Iran and Pakistan, which have returned nearly two million Afghans over the past seven months, according to international reports.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation said its Deputy Minister for Finance and Administration, Kaleem-ur-Rahman Fani, welcomed Grandi at Kabul International Airport. The two officials held discussions on the conditions of returnees and the broader challenges surrounding the deportation process.

Taliban officials emphasised the immediate and long-term needs of returnees, including access to emergency assistance, healthcare, education, and shelter.

The UN has raised increasing concern over the mass deportations, warning of the humanitarian and human rights implications, particularly for vulnerable groups.

The visit by the UN refugee chief follows broader international calls for the suspension of forced returns, citing instability and lack of basic services in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

The incident occurred on the evening of Friday near the centre of Maimana, the capital of Faryab province. According to local sources, the attackers opened fire on Bandari and fled the scene immediately after the shooting.

Bandari had recently returned to Afghanistan through the Taliban’s Commission for the Return of Expatriates. He had been residing in Ghor province in recent months but travelled to Faryab last week at the invitation of the Taliban governor.

Following the fall of the former Afghan government in 2021, Bandari had fled to Iran. He later returned to the country through the Taliban’s formal repatriation programme.

The Taliban has not yet commented on the assassination. Further details about the incident remain unavailable.

In a statement released this week, the non-governmental organisation criticised the methods used in the ongoing deportation process, warning that media reports and testimonies from affected migrants present a troubling picture. The association said the treatment of Afghan nationals does not align with principles of human dignity, nor with Islamic and revolutionary values.

The Iran-Afghanistan Friendship Association operates formally within Iran and has long advocated for stronger cultural and social ties between the two countries.

In recent months, the Islamic Republic of Iran has significantly increased the deportation of Afghan nationals. The surge in removals, which escalated following the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, has become one of the most extensive waves of forced returns in recent years. Rights groups and international observers have raised alarm over the scale and speed of the expulsions.

In a post published Friday on X (formerly Twitter), Bennett warned of a growing global human rights crisis, noting that large numbers of Afghans, including asylum seekers, have been forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan. He also raised concerns about the risk of deportations from other countries.

Bennett urged governments involved in the removals to reverse course and uphold their international responsibilities.

Mass deportations from Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries have intensified in recent months, raising fears of a worsening humanitarian crisis. According to international organisations, nearly two million Afghan migrants were deported from Iran and Pakistan in the first half of 2025.

Germany has also resumed deportations. On Friday, a Qatar Airways flight transported 81 Afghan asylum seekers from Germany to Kabul, marking one of the latest returns under Berlin’s revised immigration policy.

UN human rights experts condemned the deportations from Iran, Pakistan, and other countries, describing them as violations of international law and the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the forced return of individuals to countries where they face serious threats to life or freedom.

In a statement issued Friday, the experts said more than 1.9 million Afghans had been forcibly returned in the first six months of the year. Of those, over 1.5 million were deported from Iran and more than 300,000 from Pakistan.

The statement warned that returnees, particularly women, girls, minority groups, former government officials, and human rights defenders, face significant risks of persecution, violence, and abuse under Taliban rule.

According to eyewitness accounts, Taliban fighters used armed force over the past two days to evict residents from the Keshro valley, targeting families in the villages of Sang-e Shura, Darwaza, Dahane Ghori, Jireh Gak, Narmtab, and Hajiabad.

Local sources said villagers held a protest on Friday, after being ordered to leave their homes without due process. They reported that most of the displaced families were members of the Taymani tribe, who have long-standing land disputes with the Khanzada tribe, also known as Sardar Khel.

The conflict reportedly escalated after Ahmad Shah Din Dost, the former Taliban governor of Ghor, issued a ruling last year under the pretext of resolving the dispute. The decision required Taymani residents to vacate their homes and surrender their property to the Sardar Khel tribe.

Din Dost, currently serving as commander of the Taliban’s 205 Al-Badr Army Corps, is accused of deploying armed fighters to forcefully expel residents from the area. Local sources said Taliban forces previously carried out similar forced evictions in Jireh Gak and Hajiabad following Din Dost’s ruling.

Local council reports estimate that roughly 600 families reside in the six affected villages.

A source familiar with the matter said Din Dost holds a personal grudge against the Taymani tribe, who had resisted Taliban forces, particularly his faction, during the previous government and inflicted significant casualties.

Sources also claim that the Taliban's provincial council of religious scholars in Ghor issued a ruling last year calling for the land to be divided between the two tribes. However, Din Dost allegedly rejected the decision and instead ordered the entire area be awarded to the Sardar Khel tribe.

Reports suggest the dispute may have been influenced by personal ties: one of Din Dost’s wives is reportedly from the Sardar Khel tribe in the Keshro valley.

According to local accounts, the conflict between the Taymani and Sardar Khel tribes has already resulted in dozens of deaths. Among the victims was a Taymani elder, Senator Ahmad Khan, who was reportedly killed after the Taliban came to power, a killing attributed by sources to members of the Sardar Khel tribe.