Swiss Development Agency Resumes Operations In Kabul After Four-Year Absence

In a statement Tuesday, security officials said a TTP cell intended to use a car bomb on Defence Day, set for 5 September. They said an operation on the outskirts of the capital led to the arrest of a senior TTP commander, the Afghan suicide attacker and five other militants accused of planning the attack.

Officials said the Afghan bomber had received training at the “Al-Farooq Fidayee” camp in Afghanistan. The group had rented a house in Tarnol, outside Islamabad, to use as a hideout, and had conducted reconnaissance in parts of the city in July to select targets, according to authorities.

Security officials warned the planned assault could have mirrored a deadly TTP attack in March on a military zone in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when militants used a car bomb and a coordinated assault in an attempt to breach a secure compound.

The Pakistani army said Afghan nationals took part directly in that operation, which left 34 people dead, including five soldiers, 13 civilians and 16 TTP fighters, among them four suicide bombers. Another 32 people were wounded.

Brig. Gen. Abbasali Mohammadian said the operation to remove Afghans without legal residency permits is ongoing, with between 700 and 800 people identified daily across the capital. He noted that while 70,000 foreign nationals have so far been rounded up in Tehran, the number ultimately confirmed as undocumented is lower.

Iranian officials commonly use the term “foreign nationals” to refer to migrants, particularly Afghans.

Mohammadian added that a significant number of Afghans have also left Tehran voluntarily due to unemployment and tighter monitoring. He said the presence of undocumented migrants in public spaces, including Azadi Square and city parks, has declined since the campaign began.

The police chief warned that employing undocumented foreigners in businesses, especially in food outlets, supermarkets and restaurants, is a criminal offence and that establishments found in violation would be sealed. He said hiring foreign workers is only permitted if they hold valid documents and have completed required health checks.

According to Mohammadian, the initiative is part of Iran’s national plan to deport two million undocumented migrants by the end of the year, with Tehran assigned a specific quota.

The US Embassy for Afghanistan, now based in Doha, announced the change on Thursday in a brief statement confirming Decker’s departure. Decker had served for years as chargé d’affaires and oversaw the mission during the tumultuous period following the collapse of Afghanistan’s Western-backed government in 2021. The US Embassy in Kabul remains closed.

Brown has served as deputy chief of mission for Afghanistan since November 2023. His biography, released by the embassy, describes him as a career diplomat specialising in counterterrorism, political-military affairs, and combating transnational and financial crimes, as well as political and economic issues.

Before his current role, he was deputy director of the Office of Analysis for Terrorism, Narcotics, and Crime in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research.

The committee will use data from various institutions to determine the locations of Afghan refugees and share the information with police to implement the deportation plan, according to Dawn newspaper.

Members of the committee include the District Officer of the Rawalpindi Special Branch, the Deputy Superintendent of Police Security Rawalpindi, representatives from the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON), the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), the Intelligence Bureau and other intelligence agencies.

The government has previously developed a comprehensive strategy to expedite the deportation of Afghans with PoR cards, instructing senior security officials to ensure their “voluntary” return without delay.

Forced deportations of PoR cardholders are scheduled to begin on 1 September. Dawn reported that all relevant agencies must identify PoR holders and submit their findings to the Interior Ministry.

Control rooms in various regions will be reactivated, and a complaints unit with a dedicated hotline will be established to address grievances related to the deportation process.

This move comes as Pakistan continues to deport Afghan migrants. Reports indicate that more than 30,000 undocumented Afghans have already been identified and sent back to Afghanistan through operations by border police and the Quetta district administration.

According to aid groups, on average, one Afghan migrant child is expelled from Iran and Pakistan every 30 seconds. Save the Children says more than 800,000 Afghan children have been forced to return from the two countries so far this year.

Residents reported that helicopters targeted militant hideouts in remote areas close to the frontier. No official statement has been issued by the federal government on the start of the operation in Bajaur, a former stronghold of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Saeedullah, a local government official, said the operation was not on a large scale and that only militant hideouts were being targeted to minimise civilian casualties. He estimated that more than 55,000 people, roughly 20,000 families, had fled their homes in recent days fearing the fighting.

Many of the displaced are sheltering in government buildings and schools, with authorities providing food and other basic supplies, he said.

Bajaur was the site of a major Pakistani military operation in 2009 against both domestic and foreign militants, which displaced hundreds of thousands of residents.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police chief Zulfiqar Hameed said officials are still gathering data on the displaced population, and that targeted operations against the TTP are continuing.

Earlier this week, Pakistan’s army said it had killed at least 50 Pakistani Taliban fighters along the Afghan border in a four-day operation.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of sheltering TTP militants and has called for their cooperation in tackling the group. The Afghan Taliban deny the TTP’s presence in Afghanistan, but international reports indicate senior TTP leaders are based there and directing operations from Afghan soil.