Afghanistan Peace CampaignThousands of Afghans who were set to be relocated to the United States before Trump halted refugee admissions are at risk of being forced out of their homes in Pakistan — and potentially sent back to Taliban-run Afghanistan.
Pakistani authorities were already gearing up for a major deportation campaign targeting hundreds of thousands of Afghans with no path to resettlement in Europe or the United States. Now, even those who had been promised a new life in America have been told they must leave Pakistan’s capital region by the end of the month, which they fear is a pretext for arrest and deportation.
While Pakistan has long respected Western requests to spare Afghans with ties to NATO countries, the upcoming campaign is expected to target anyone without a valid visa — including many like Shirzad, who, after being in limbo here for years, have recently been unable to pay surging visa extension fees.
Hiding inside their cramped apartment on the outskirts of Islamabad has been particularly hard on his two children, Shirzad said. But going back to Afghanistan is not an option: “It’s like inviting death into your home,” he said. Like others in this story, he spoke on the condition that he be identified by his last name, fearing unwanted scrutiny from the Taliban.
Afghans interviewed for this story said the uncertainty has taken a growing mental toll. Some said they were battling depression and suicidal thoughts.
Aman, 41, a former member of the Afghan security forces, can’t shake the thought of his potential arrest by Pakistani police. If it comes to that, he said, he wonders if he should ask them to shoot him rather than send him back.
“When my little daughter sees police officers, she starts crying,” he said, sitting in a bare room with faded walls in one of the capital’s densely populated Afghan neighborhoods.
Islamabad began deporting Afghans who were not vocal critics of the Taliban in late 2023, amid deteriorating ties with the government in Kabul. Over 800,000 Afghans — some of whom were born in Pakistan — have already been sent back.
In recent weeks, Pakistani officials have also begun to put more pressure on the estimated half-million Afghan refugees who arrived here after the Taliban takeover in 2021. Pakistani officials say few other countries would have been willing to take in so many refugees in the first place and their patience has run out amid mounting public pressure over competition for work and housing.
“It is a fact that you will have to go,” Amir Muqam, Pakistan’s minister for states and frontier regions, said recently, addressing Afghans without valid visas.
For now, Pakistani officials say they are focusing their efforts on the estimated 1.5 million Afghan refugees who fled across the border after the Soviet invasion of their country in the late 1970s. But the estimated 20,000 Afghans whose resettlement cases were processed by the U.S. government before Trump’s executive order fear they will be caught up in the dragnet.
The Jan. 20 order suspended refugee arrivals for at least 90 days, pending a government review. Some Afghans have still been able to enter the United States in recent weeks under Special Immigrant Visas — reserved for those who directly supported the 20-year American war effort, including as military interpreters. But AfghanEvac, a volunteer organization that helps families resettle in the United States, warned Wednesday that it has “credible indications that a travel ban affecting Afghan nationals may be imminent,” which could seal off the last remaining path.
Thousands of Afghans have been arrested in Pakistan over the past two months, and hundreds deported, said Umer Ijaz Gilani, a human rights lawyer in Islamabad.
“There are legal precedents stating that anyone who has come to Pakistan and is at genuine risk can’t be sent back,” Gilani said. “It’s against our international obligations.”
A statement from Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said the country “has been a gracious host and continues to fulfill its commitments and obligations as a responsible state. … No one will be maltreated during the repatriation process, and arrangements for food and health care for returning foreigners have also been put in place.”
Of the more than a dozen refugees interviewed by The Washington Post, none said they heard from the U.S. government about when — or whether — their resettlement cases might proceed.
“These folks are struggling to survive,” said Shawn VanDiver, the president of AfghanEvac.
Although the Taliban leadership issued a general amnesty for former officials in the U.S.-backed government more than three years ago, the United Nations has documented more than 200 extrajudicial killings of former Afghan officials and members of the armed forces since the withdrawal of U.S. forces. The government has also imposed increasingly harsh laws limiting the rights of women and girls.
Marzia Hafizi, 32, has been working for an exiled Afghan broadcaster since fleeing her country for the Pakistani capital region shortly after the fall of Kabul, presenting segments critical of the Taliban from across the border. Over the past two months, she has left her home only once, for a doctor’s visit, she said, after an anonymous threat was sent to her channel suggesting that her whereabouts are known to the Taliban.
She has reported recently about alleged hacks targeting Taliban ministries and accusations of sexual abuse under the regime. She had hoped Pakistan would continue to grant her sanctuary while she waited for U.S. authorities to facilitate her relocation.
One of her sisters, still in Kabul, was so confident the family would be welcomed to the United States that she passed on an opportunity to relocate to France, opting to wait for a U.S. decision on her pending application.
The Pakistani deportation drive, and the increasingly repressive political climate in Kabul, have alarmed Hafizi.
“I don’t even want to think about being deported,” she said.
Worried about their future, a group of Afghans met for a protest at an indoor shelter this week on the outskirts of Islamabad. But their anger wasn’t directed at Pakistan.
The room was covered in American flags. Some held up photos of Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Honor your commitments — before it’s too late,” one poster read.
Zahir Bahand, 51, was a regional government spokesman under the U.S.-backed administration. His 29-year-old son and his son’s wife were among the last Afghans to make it to the United States before Trump’s inauguration in January. Bahand, his wife and their two younger children had expected to join them there soon. They had already sold their belongings. Now he worries they may never make it.
“Many people who worked with other NATO allies have long been evacuated, but we — the ones who assisted the United States — are being left behind,” he said.
Shaiq Hussain and Haq Nawaz Khan contributed to this report.