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As readers of this newsletter are well aware, the human rights situation in Afghanistan is appalling, and the country is facing a humanitarian catastrophe.
Pakistan’s authorities are no doubt well aware of this. And yet, they have been forcing Afghan refugees to return to Afghanistan regardless.
In January, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry announced Afghans without official residence documents must leave the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi or face deportation. Even Afghans holding appropriate documents that are supposed to allow refugees to stay in Pakistan, like the Proof of Registration card, must leave by June 30.
This is just the latest in a series of policies and actions by Pakistani authorities against Afghan refugees.
A previous wave of deportations and expulsions, from September 2023 through January 2024, drove more than 800,000 Afghans to Afghanistan. Many of them were actually born in Pakistan or had been living there for decades.
Pakistani police have raided houses, beat and arbitrarily detained people, and confiscated refugee documents, including residence permits. They have demanded bribes to allow Afghans to remain in Pakistan.
Such abuses seem almost calculated to coerce Afghan refugees to leave. Most Afghans who have returned to Afghanistan have cited fear of detention by Pakistani authorities as the reason they left.
When they get to Afghanistan, they are thrown into the disastrous situation there under the Taliban.
The prospects for women and girls are beyond bleak. The Taliban have banned girls and women from education past sixth grade, blocked them from many forms of employment, and restricted their movement in public. A woman cannot even leave her house without a male family member chaperoning her.
But it’s not just women and girls who face hardships. The economy is a wreck, unemployment is widespread, and the healthcare system has collapsed. More than 22 million Afghans, almost half the population, require emergency food aid and other assistance. Some 3.5 million children are acutely malnourished.
Meanwhile, levels of foreign aid are in sharp decline.
Afghans who worked in previous government jobs or other prominent roles are at particular risk if sent back. They face a genuine threat of persecution, torture, or death. Returning them likely breaks Pakistan’s obligations under international law.
Pakistani authorities surely know all this, and yet, they are only increasing pressure on Afghan refugees to go back.
Pakistan is not alone in ignoring Afghanistan’s reality, of course. Germany and other countries have also sometimes put Afghans at risk by deporting them to Afghanistan. It’s outrageous and unconscionable.
But the numbers we’re looking at with Pakistan right now are enormous. Some 800,000 Afghan refugees were forced back to Afghanistan in Pakistan’s last drive.
Who knows how many hundreds of thousands more will be caught up in this new push if Pakistan’s leaders don’t change course.
