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ISLAMABAD: The US State Department said on Wednesday it had ordered non-emergency personnel at American consulates in Karachi and Lahore and their families to leave Pakistan due to security concerns.
“The Department of State ordered non-emegency US government employees and the family members of US government personnel from US Consulates [in] Lahore and Karachi to leave Pakistan due to safety risks,” the US Mission in Pakistan said in a statement.
It added that there was no change in the status of its embassy in Islamabad. The advisory noted “an ongoing threat of drone and missile attacks from Iran and significant disruptions to commercial flights” amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
While there is also an additional consulate in Peshawar, the updated travel advisory did not mention anything about it.
Following the onset of hostilities between Iran and the US and Israel since February 28, the State Department has issued similar instructions for its staff in multiple regional countries. These include Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Cyprus.
The State Dept has also urged Americans in Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE and Yemen to depart from there due to “serious safety risks”.
The instructions for non-emergency consulate personnel to leave Pakistan also came after 11 people were killed and dozens of others were injured when protesters stormed the US Consulate in Karachi on March 1 to protest the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
The same day, protesters had also assembled outside the US Consulate in Lahore and attempted to force their way into the building, but police managed to push back the activists.
In a subsequent travel advisory, the US Mission said the consulate in Peshawar had temporarily suspended operations. “The US Embassy in Islamabad will continue to provide all routine or emergency consular services for US citizens,” it said, adding that normal consular operations were to resume there on March 3. Due to the disruptions, the US consulates in Karachi and Lahore had cancelled all appointments for US visas and American Citizen Services.
Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2026
