ISLAMABAD: More than 100,000 Afghans have left Pakis­tan in the past three weeks, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, after Islamabad announced the widespread cancellation of their residence permits.

Pakistan has recently witnessed hundreds of Afghans dragging their belongings across the Torkham and Chaman borders as the government began its second drive of deportations on March 31, which targeted those holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACCs) after repeatedly extending deadlines to facilitate their voluntary return.

The drive is part of a larger campaign that the government began in 2023 to repatriate all illegal foreigners. Under the first phase, all undocumented Afghans were deported

The government has frequently said that Afghan nationals take part in attacks and blames Kabul for al­­lowing militants to take refuge on its soil, a charge Taliban leaders deny.

The interior ministry told AFP that a total of “100,529 Afghans have left in April”.

Convoys of Afghan families have been heading to the border since the start of April when the last deadline set by the government to leave Pak­istan expired, crossing into a country mired in a humanitarian crisis.

Islamabad has provided shelter and other basic facilities besides jobs to millions of Afghan refugees for several decades as millions have poured into Pakistan over the past several decades fleeing successive wars.

Hundreds of thousands also fled the return of the Taliban government in 2021.

Some Pakistanis have grown weary of hosting a large Afghan population as security and economic woes deepen, and the deportation campaign has widespread support.

“I was born in Pakistan and have never been to Afghanistan,” 27-year-old Allah Rahman told AFP at the Torkham border on Saturday.

“I was afraid the police might humiliate me and my family. Now we’re heading back to Afgha­nistan out of sheer helplessness.”

“They came here for refuge but ended up taking jobs, opening businesses. They took jobs from Pakistanis who are already struggling,” 41-year-old hairdresser Tanveer Ahmad told AFP.

Afghanistan’s prime minister Hasan Akhund condemned the “unilateral measures” taken by its neighbour after Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar flew to Kabul for a day-long visit to discuss the returns.

Akhund urged the Pakistani government to “facilitate the dignified return” of Afghan refugees.

On the other side, the UNHCR said more than half of Afghans being deported were children. Women and girls among those crossing were entering Afghan­istan where they are banned from education beyond secondary school and barred from many sectors of work.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2025