PAKISTAN has been a destination of ‘choice’ for millions of Afghans fleeing their strife-torn homeland for the past four decades and counting — in fact, in many cases, this is the only country they can escape to safely. While the initial exodus was sparked by the Soviet invasion, this trend has continued with the Taliban takeover of Kabul last year, creating fresh challenges for this country. Along with fears of Taliban reprisals — especially for those Afghans that worked for the former government, or aided US forces and their foreign allies — Afghanistan’s dire economic situation is also fuelling a refugee crisis, as people look for safer, more economically sound countries to settle in. However, Pakistan, facing an economic crisis of its own, is not in a position to host a large number of refugees and asylum seekers. As per the latest UN figures 1.3m Afghans are residing in this country, while over 300,000 have fled their native land for Pakistan since the fall of Kabul. There have been protests by Afghan nationals in Islamabad calling for their speedy resettlement in developed states. In this regard, the government’s decision to introduce a new visa policy should address most of the issues regarding the smooth settlement of Afghans in third countries.

According to details of the new policy reported in this paper, a transit visa of 30 days would be issued to Afghans within 24 hours in order to smoothen the process of onward travel and settlement in third countries. While this is a welcome move, the visa duration could be extended from 30 days to six months in order to allow time for the processing of paperwork. The fact is that this is literally a matter of life and death for many Afghans. Along with those associated with the former government, journalists, artists and civil society activists have also fled Afghanistan, fearing the wrath of the Taliban. Therefore, if Western states are willing to take in these asylum seekers, Pakistan should help facilitate the process as much as possible. This country, as mentioned above, has played a major part in hosting Afghan refugees for decades. Now, when socioeconomic factors make it difficult to provide long-term shelter to vulnerable Afghans, Pakistan and the developed states must work together to ensure that those fleeing Taliban persecution have safe havens to go to, and bureaucratic hurdles standing in the way of their resettlement are minimised.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2022