Pakistan has deported several Afghan refugees who were awaiting resettlement in the United States, The Washington Post reported, as Islamabad intensifies its crackdown on undocumented migrants.
According to the report, deported refugees said Pakistani authorities no longer believe the US is taking practical steps to relocate Afghans living in Pakistan. The country has already sent back tens of thousands of Afghans, including some awaiting transfer to the US or European nations.
A senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry official confirmed to The Washington Post that refugees on US resettlement lists were among those deported. He acknowledged that “at the operational level, mistakes were made by security forces” but claimed that many of those wrongly expelled had since been allowed to return.
Mursal, a 28-year-old Afghan woman who fled to Pakistan after the Taliban takeover, said she and her family were deported in July while their US resettlement case was still being reviewed. Now in hiding in Afghanistan, she said they fear both Taliban authorities and neighbours who know of their links to the US.
Taimoor, a 36-year-old former US military contractor also deported in July, blamed Washington’s policy shift, saying president Trump created this chaos.
Although the Taliban claim that no harm will come to returning Afghans under their so-called “general amnesty,” the United Nations has warned that many with past US or government ties face “serious human rights violations,” including torture, arbitrary detention, and threats to their safety. Women, journalists, and former officials are particularly at risk, according to UN reports.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, the US has resettled roughly 200,000 Afghans, but about 20,000 cases remained pending when former President Donald Trump suspended the process.
In Pakistan, many refugees had been renting private accommodation, but authorities have recently threatened landlords with fines for housing migrants with expired visas. Refugees told The Washington Post that Pakistani police have become more aggressive in their arrests.
Only one of seven deported Afghans interviewed by The Washington Post has managed to return to Pakistan, with the help of relatives and at great personal cost. The others remain in hiding in Afghanistan, struggling to survive under worsening economic conditions.
