Expul­sion of Afghans infographic
Graphic shows status of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
GN45036EN

PAKISTAN

Mass expul­sion of at-risk Afghans

By Duncan Mil

November 3, 2023 - Pakistan has deported at least 180,000 Afghans back to their Taliban-run coun­try as Islamabad cracks down on undoc­u­mented migrants, claiming they are responsible for militant attacks

On October 3, Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Sarfaraz Bugti, ordered Afghans without visas or refugee status to leave within 28 days.

“There have been 24 suicide bomb attacks since January this year and 14 of them were carried out by Afghan nationals,” Bugti said as he announced the repatriation plan.

Pakistan has reported more than 300 attacks this year, mainly in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces bordering Afghanistan.

About 3.5 million Afghans, 1.7 million of them undocumented, fled to Pakistan following the Soviet invasion in 1979.

A further 600,000 Afghans fled to Pakistan during the Islamist Taliban’s takeover in August 2021 after the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces.

Many of the undocumented Afghans are veterans who were central to fulfilling the West’s mission in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban in 2002.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 03/11/2023; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
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