Islamabad High Court Halts Deportation Of 18 Afghan Migrants

Several Afghans in Islamabad told Afghanistan International that after months of waiting, their applications were denied despite submitting all required documents. They said most of the rejected cases involved medical and tourist visas.

Obaidullah, an Afghan who has lived in Pakistan for three years, said he recently received an email notifying him that his visa extension had been refused without reason. He added that since early 2025, when Pakistan reduced visas for Afghans to one month, he had repeatedly applied before expiry, but his latest request was left pending for three months before being denied.

Another migrant, Tabasum Ahmadi, said her medical visa was also rejected. She noted that Afghans in Pakistan face mounting difficulties but many cannot return to Afghanistan due to safety concerns.

The Afghan Council in Islamabad confirmed reports of widespread denials. Its head, Maiwand Alami Afghan, said about 80 percent of medical visa requests and 10 percent of tourist visa requests had recently been turned down. A travel agent also reported that very few Afghan visas were being approved.

Pakistani officials have not commented on this so far.

In recent months, Pakistan has tightened its immigration policy toward Afghans. The government suspended the extension of Afghan visas two months ago and has vowed to expel all undocumented migrants. Authorities have also announced plans to begin deporting 1.4 million Afghans holding “Proof of Registration” cards from 1 September.

The newspaper said Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi raised concerns with his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, during a meeting in Kabul on 20 August. Sources cited by the paper suggested the Taliban regime was displeased that Afghan opposition members had been invited by the Islamabad-based South Asian Strategic Stability Institute, leading to the delay.

The report added that Muttaqi also voiced his opposition to the meeting on the sidelines of a recent trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of the Taliban, China and Pakistan, also held in Kabul.

Earlier, two sources told Afghanistan International that the delay was linked to visa issuance problems for participants. One attendee, however, said the meeting was now expected to take place in Pakistan in the final week of September.

According to information obtained by Afghanistan International, invitees to the gathering include Nasir Ahmad Andisha, Afghanistan’s representative in Geneva; Mustafa Mastoor, former economy minister; Fawzia Koofi, women’s rights activist and former MP; Habib-ur-Rahman Hekmatyar; Hossein Yasa, spokesperson of the National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan; Zahra Joya, founder of Rukhshana Media; and Mawlawi Abdullah Qarluq, former governor of Takhar.

The conference has already been postponed three times. Initially scheduled for 25–26 June, it was pushed back to 25–26 July, then to 25–26 August, before being postponed again.

In a statement on Sunday, 24 August, the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice said the land in Pul-e-Alam, the provincial capital, had been registered as “Emarati” or state-owned land during a meeting of its Committee for Preventing Land Usurpation. The ministry said the case concerning 1,406 acres has been referred to the central commission for a final ruling.

The Taliban have established the Commission for Preventing Land Usurpation and Restoring Seized Lands, tasked with reclaiming what they describe as state property from “land usurpers.” Officials claim large areas in Kabul and other provinces have already been reclassified as government-owned.

No independent body exists in Afghanistan to hear complaints from citizens who allege the Taliban are forcibly seizing private property under the guise of land reclamation.

Klobuchar is among nine senators backing the Fulfilling Promises to Afghan Allies Act, introduced earlier this month after reports that some evacuees were facing possible deportation. Immigration officials have begun detaining Afghan refugees brought to the United States after the 2021 withdrawal whose asylum claims remain unresolved.

“We must stand by the Afghans who stood with us in the war,” Klobuchar wrote on X on Sunday. “Veterans are standing with our Afghan allies as Battle Buddies volunteers. Now Congress needs to step in and pass my bipartisan bill to ensure they can put down roots here and continue contributing to our communities.”

The legislation, co-sponsored by Democrats Klobuchar, Chris Coons, Richard Blumenthal and Jeanne Shaheen, along with Republicans Lisa Murkowski, Lindsey Graham, Bill Cassidy and Mike Rounds, would create a clear pathway to green cards for Afghans who supported US missions and were relocated after the Taliban takeover.

Many of those evacuees currently live in the United States under humanitarian parole. Some, however, have been told to return to Afghanistan. The Trump administration has argued that conditions in Afghanistan do not warrant further protection, citing security concerns to oppose expedited resettlement.

The bill follows another bipartisan proposal, the Enduring Welcome Act, introduced on 19 August by four House members seeking to revive and codify the relocation programme for Afghan partners.

In its report on Sunday, Bakhtar published photos showing only male ministers after Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp and several colleagues from the centre-right New Social Contract party stepped down over failed efforts to impose new sanctions against Israel.

Taliban-controlled outlets have repeatedly censored images of women, both inside Afghanistan and in their reporting on international affairs. Critics say the group’s media policy not only erases women from Afghan public life but also applies the same exclusionary rules abroad.

Since returning to power, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on media freedom. Women’s visibility on television has been sharply curtailed, with female presenters forced to cover their faces and cultural programming heavily censored.

In many provinces, images of living beings have been banned under a decree issued by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.