Taliban Detain Dozens Of Young Women In Western Kabul Amid Renewed Crackdown

Dozens of Afghan families were reportedly detained and taken into custody.

The arrests follow a recent increase in deportations of Afghan nationals from Pakistan, including journalists and civil society activists.

Sources in Islamabad told Afghanistan International that B-17 township is home to a number of former Afghan employees who previously worked with US forces in Afghanistan. Among those detained were women, children, and individuals with medical conditions.

The crackdown comes amid the suspension of visa renewals and extensions for Afghan nationals. Many migrants in Pakistan now face an uncertain legal status, as their visas have expired and new permits are no longer being issued.

The growing pressure on Afghan migrants has raised concerns among international observers, as families fear arrest and forced return to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Human rights organisations have warned that such deportations could expose returnees to serious risks, including violence and persecution.

Pakistan’s Interior Ministry has signalled that a new and accelerated phase of deportations is imminent, with no plans to extend the legal stay of undocumented Afghans.

The United Nations and humanitarian groups have issued repeated warnings that mass deportations are exacerbating poverty and hunger among Afghan returnees. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, nearly two million Afghans have been expelled from Iran and Pakistan over the past seven months.

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.