President of Uzbekistan: Afghanistan is Critical to Regional Stability

According to some political analysts, the presence of the representative of the Islamic Emirate is beneficial for taking a stand in such meetings.

The President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, said that Afghanistan is critical to stability in the region.

Speaking at the First Summit of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia, Mirziyoyev said that a positive outcome cannot be achieved without engaging the current Afghan government in international dialogue.

“For certain reasons, today’s meeting is taking place without the participation of representatives from Afghanistan, even though this country is an integral part of Central Asia and is critical to regional stability. I urge my esteemed colleagues, the leadership of UNECE and ESCAP to establish working relations and restore cooperation with Afghanistan as part of the SPECA Program. We cannot afford to leave this country alone with its problems. A positive outcome cannot be achieved without engaging the current Government in international dialogue,” the President of Uzbekistan said.

“Afghanistan is without a doubt the key to regional stability, but Afghanistan itself needs stability, and the key to Afghanistan’s stability is to consider people’s freedoms and ethnic participation in power,” said Sayed Javad Sajadi, a political analyst.

According to some political analysts, the presence of the representative of the Islamic Emirate is beneficial for taking a stand in such meetings.

“If there is a representative of Afghanistan in such meetings, it is natural that he will reflect the positions of the Afghan people there, he will reflect the wishes of the Afghan people, and it is natural that he will answer the questions about Afghanistan, and this is very important for the people of Afghanistan,” Khalil Ahmad Nadim, a political analyst told TOLOnews.

“Any opponent and any enemy can accuse Afghanistan there if Afghan diplomats are not present at world meetings,” Wahid Faqiri, a political analyst, told TOLOnews.

Afghanistan was admitted as a member of the United Nations Special Programme for Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) in May 2005.

President of Uzbekistan: Afghanistan is Critical to Regional Stability
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Shaheen: UN Using Afghanistan’s Seat to Pressure Kabul

He said the current Afghan government needs to take into account the legitimate demands of the people of Afghanistan.

Suhail Shaheen, the head of the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based Political Office, said the UN acted without neutrality in determining the seat of Afghanistan.

In an interview with RTA, Shaheen said that the UN uses Afghanistan’s seat in the organization as pressure on the Islamic Emirate, urging the organization to handover the seat to the current Afghan government.

“This [UN] is a big organization and they always talk about law and legality and human rights and they claim to be neutral, but they are not neutral in this position,” he noted.

He said the current Afghan government needs to take into account the legitimate demands of the people of Afghanistan.

“We should also take into account the wishes of the people and pay attention to those issues, not because we accept the wishes of foreigners definitively, but for the sake of the people,” Suhail Shaheen further noted.

The head of the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based Political Office added that the meetings that have been held in connection with Afghanistan in the past two years without the presence of a representative of the Islamic Emirate, have not had any results for the country and will not have any results in the future either.

Shaheen called the existence of the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based Political Office the political gateway of the Islamic Emirate to the world, saying that thirteen embassies of foreign countries for Afghanistan operate from Qatar.

“In addition to the Qatar political office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs to become more active so that Afghanistan’s diplomatic relations and foreign policy become better than this,” said Najibullah Jami, a political analyst.

“The office can also be a good mediator because they can effectively solve the issue of Afghanistan, which is an economic and political crisis and it has not been recognized yet,” said Javid Momand, a university lecturer.

Suhail Shaheen continued to criticize the United States for its failure to live up to its promises, saying that not a single one of its agreements with the Islamic Emirate of Doha has been met.

He emphasized that world perceptions of the current Afghan government have changed over the past two years, and that there are hopes for the Islamic Emirate to be recognized.

Shaheen: UN Using Afghanistan’s Seat to Pressure Kabul
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Activists Call for Rights on Intl Elimination of Violence Against Women Day

On this day, António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, called on everyone to work to eliminate violence against women.

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Some activists in the field of women’s rights are worried about the situation of women in the country, and on this day and they asked the Islamic Emirate to remove the restrictions imposed on the women of the country.

On this day, António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, called on everyone to work to eliminate violence against women.

At the same time as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the European Union in Afghanistan, Amnesty International and some activists in the field of women’s rights said they are concerned about the situation of women in Afghanistan.

The EU for Afghanistan wrote on X: “EU Afghanistan stands united with its partners UN, and UNDP and calls to end gender-based violence.”

The UN Secretary-General called the violence against women a horrific violation of human rights and a major obstacle to sustainable development.

“Violence against women is a horrific violation of human rights, a public health crisis, and a major obstacle to sustainable development. This year’s theme of the UNiTE campaign – “Invest to Prevent Violence against Women & Girls” – calls on all of us to take action,” António Guterres said.

EU wrote on X: “Women and girls worldwide continue to be disproportionately exposed to violence and EU Afghanistan stands united with its partners UN, and UNDP and calls to end gender-based violence.”

“Women are not only deprived of their rights, but psychologically, they strongly feel violence against themselves,” said Suraya Paikan, a womens’ rights activist.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has announced its support for the women and girls of Afghanistan with the arrival of this day.
This organization has also launched a campaign to support women.

“The biggest violence against girls is that the doors of schools and universities are closed to them and their rights are ignored, women live with an unknown fate. Hoping for the day when the government of the Islamic Emirate will take care of the rights of all Afghan people, especially women,” said Tafsir Syahposh, a womens’ rights activist.

Meanwhile, some women said that the restrictions imposed by the Islamic Emirate have multiplied the challenges faced by women in the country.

“Our request to the International Community is that they should do something for Afghan women and take action so that girls can study and women can return to their jobs,” said Zuhra Rajabi, a student.

Meanwhile, since the coming of the Islamic Emirate into power again in Afghanistan, more than a dozen restrictive decrees have been imposed by the leader of the Islamic Emirate on women and girls, including banning girls above the sixth grade from going to schools and universities, and banning them from going to parks. And the presence of women without masks in the media is one of the most prominent.

Activists Call for Rights on Intl Elimination of Violence Against Women Day
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Detained aid worker feared ‘he was not going home’

Chris Robinson
BBC News online
Mark McAlindon
BBC Look North
BBC Kevin CornwellBBC
UN worker Kevin Cornwell spent nine months detained in Afghanistan
  • Kevin Cornwell spent nine months detained in Afghanistan
  • He had been working for the UN when secret police arrested him after searching his hotel
  • The paramedic spoke of attempts to “radicalise” him in his cell
  • His wife, who campaigned for her husband’s release, has been given a special award at her graduation

A British aid worker who spent nine months being held in Afghanistan has told the BBC that at one point he thought he “wasn’t going home”.

Kevin Cornwell, originally from Middlesbrough, was released from detention in October after 272 days.

While imprisoned in Kabul, he said he spent three months trying to avoid being radicalised in his cell.

The paramedic said being reunited with wife Kelly, who had been fighting for his release, was “the most exciting time” in his life.

It comes as Mrs Cornwell, from Fleetwood, Lancashire, graduated from the University of Cumbria after completing her mental health nursing degree.

She said she was “overwhelmed” to receive a special award from her faculty for its most inspirational student, after completing her final-year studies during the ordeal, as well as recovering from a hysterectomy.

Kelly and Kevin Cornwell
Mr Cornwell, pictured with wife Kelly, said there were attempts to “radicalise” him

Mr Cornwell had been working for the UN Refugee Agency when he was detained for allegedly breaking the country’s laws in January.

He was confronted by secret police who had searched his hotel room where a pistol, for emergency use, was found in his safe.

Despite having a licence, he was taken away with a bag over his head and locked up for 11 days in solitary confinement before even being questioned.

The 54-year-old spent three months in a cell where inmates attempted to “radicalise” him 10 hours a day.

“The three months was quite difficult, I found that not the hardest thing I have ever done but it was extremely difficult trying to avoid the radicalisation inside that cell,” he said.

“When they were asleep I used meditation just to sort of give my head the right space and maintain my mental fitness.

“I didn’t think I was coming out of there. At one point I thought I was going to be there and I wasn’t going home.”

He was later moved into a cell with another British national and a Mexican-American, who remains detained.

‘He’s heading home’

Mrs Cornwell, despite being told not to talk to the media, chose to speak out in a bid to put pressure on the government to have her husband freed.

“I had to humanise Kevin,” she said.

“I don’t think he would be home now if that pressure hadn’t been added and if I hadn’t have taken it to the Press in the first place,” she added.

Kelly Cornwell
Kelly Cornwell was able to speak to her husband on the phone

Mr Cornwell had only six phone calls while detained, and was able to speak with his wife and the UK Foreign Office (FCDO).

“I am a very strong and resilient person but speaking to Kelly gave me hope, and Kelly told me I would be going home, she focused on that quite a lot,” he said.

He said the amount of time they were able to talk was gradually cut short.

“I was under duress while I was on the telephone and I was told what to say,” he said.

“The rest of the time I just ignored them and said what I wanted to say to Kelly, just in case it was the last phone call that I had.”

Mr Cornwell, who served almost 25 years in the military, including 12 years in the Royal Army Medical Corps, has been deployed around the world.

On the day of his release, he said he could not be sure until “the last minute”, as international prisoners would often be given false hope.

“They came in the cell at approximately five o’clock on the morning I was released. I knew it was five o’clock because call of prayer had just been,” he said.

“They took us outside, tidied us up a little bit, told us to get a wash, handcuffed us, put a bag over our heads, put us into an armoured vehicle and took us to the airport with our bags which they had collected.”

Mrs Cornwell described her anxious wait after finding out her husband was being freed.

When she was told he was out of Afghan airspace she “woke the whole household up” to tell them “he’s on his way home”.

Mr Cornwell described the moment he was reunited with his wife.

“It was probably the best moment I have had in my life besides seeing my children being born,” he said.

“I couldn’t speak for a couple of minutes, I didn’t have the words.”

Kelly Cornwell graduated with a mental health nursing degree from the University of Cumbria

Mr Cornwell, whose health suffered, also developed kidney stones and will have an operation in December.

As he continues with his recovery, he hopes to return to work.

“I won’t be going back to Afghanistan,” he added.

“I may go to a number of other countries to work, but at the moment that is still not decided.”

He paid tribute to his wife’s “resilience” as he watched her graduate at Carlisle Cathedral on Wednesday.

Mrs Cornwell said she was accepting her award for all those “who have also experienced hard times”.

“The past nine months have taught us both that all there is are memories now, we are going to create memories,” she added.

Detained aid worker feared ‘he was not going home’
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Pakistan under fire for ‘shocking’ $830 exit fee for refugees who fled Taliban

 in Islamabad

Pakistan’s decision to impose hundreds of dollars in exit fees for every Afghan refugee who fled the persecution by the Taliban has been condemned as “shocking and frustrating” by western diplomats and the UN.

The “unprecedented” move targets refugees who are waiting to leave Pakistan for western countries under resettlement schemes, and charges about $830 (£660) for each person.

It comes after Pakistan announced a crackdown on undocumented foreigners and declared 1 November was the deadline for about 2 million unregistered Afghans to leave the country. Pakistan started mass deportations of undocumented Afghans after the deadline passed.

Thousands of Afghans without the correct documents or with expired visas have been in Pakistan since the fall of Kabul in August 2021 waiting to restart their lives in countries in the west. Most of them worked with western governments and organisations and are eligible to be resettled on humanitarian grounds.

A line of women in burqas queue in the desert with children and men
‘We’re so fearful’: Pakistan rounds up Afghan refugees for deportation

Five senior western diplomats in Pakistan told the Guardian the exit permit fee in Pakistan was unprecedented internationally and had come as a shock. “I know it is very tough economically for Pakistan but really, to try to make money off refugees is really unattractive,” said one diplomat.

“The issue has also been raised by the two UN agencies in the lead on this mess, the [UN refugee agency] UNHCR and [International Organization of Migration] IOM,” the diplomat added. “It has also been raised in capitals and headquarters. I suspect everyone has also passed the message to their [Pakistani contacts].”

Another diplomat said western officials had been told of the move at a briefing by the interior and foreign ministries. When concerns were raised about the fee, officials were told the initial decision was to charge $10,000 for each person but that had been lowered to $830.

“It is very bizarre and I personally find it very frustrating. If Pakistan wants to facilitate the process of the settlement of refugees in the west then they should not make it more complicated with such absurd conditions,” the diplomat said. “What is the justification for this exit permit fee? To make a lot of money?”

The exit permit must be paid via credit card, which many Afghan refugees have no access to. Another diplomat said: “This makes it worse as it should be paid by refugees and most of them don’t have credit cards. I think we need a cooperative approach of working together to help the refugees and we expect Pakistan would help.”

Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry, said there was no plan to change the policy. “These individuals have been here for the last two years and they are not refugees but immigrants with overstay in their visas and lack of documents. But we expect the concerned countries would expedite the visa and approval process so that they can leave for their destination as early as possible,” she said.

Baloch said more information was needed to process the refugees’ resettlement because some western countries had been giving them names without further details. But a western diplomat said: “We are trying to provide information the Pakistani government is asking for, but we have legal restrictions as to how much information we can provide as well.”

Babar Baloch, a spokesperson for the UNHCR, said: “The UNHCR is working with the government of Pakistan to resolve the issue of exit fines and overstay visa fees for refugees in the resettlement programme. The UNHCR advocates with the authorities for the exemption of refugees from these requirements.”

He said the UN understood that the situation could cause anxiety among those who had fled to Pakistan but were eager to leave the country and restart their lives. “Resettlement is part of a global solidarity and lifesaving mechanism for some of the most vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers.”

Pakistan under fire for ‘shocking’ $830 exit fee for refugees who fled Taliban
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Families Ripped Apart as Pakistan Expels Tens of Thousands of Afghans

Reporting from Karachi, Pakistan

The New York Times

On the day Baz Gul’s world was shattered, he was out scavenging garbage with his 10-year-old son, hoping to earn a few dollars to provide for his family of five.

He and his son were arrested on Sept. 12 in the Pakistani city of Karachi during a raid on Afghan migrants. Mr. Gul, 30, was born and raised in Karachi and married his wife there. But as the son of refugees who fled to Pakistan in 1992, he is a citizen of Afghanistan — and no longer welcome in the country of his birth.

His wife, Ram Bibi, 29, also an Afghan citizen, sold valuables to hire a lawyer who could argue that Mr. Gul was a legal resident of Pakistan. But he was deported to Afghanistan on Nov. 13, after Pakistan set a deadline for all 1.7 million illegal migrants to leave, most of them Afghans. Mr. Gul is now stranded in a country he does not know, leaving his pregnant wife and his children at the mercy of impoverished relatives to survive.

The Gul family is one of hundreds that have been torn apart, rights activists say, as refugees from Afghanistan have poured out of Pakistan, heeding the deportation order or being forcibly removed under a crackdown that followed a rise in tensions between the two countries.

Some of the Afghans being deported are married to Pakistani women but were unable to get Pakistani citizenship. Others, like Mr. Gul, are married to Afghan women and are being expelled separately from their families after being arrested while out working or commuting. Many of those deported were born in Pakistan, which does not confer automatic citizenship on people born there.

After the expulsions, husbands and wives, parents and children, wonder when, or if, they will see each other again. Separated from a primary breadwinner, many must now fend for themselves.

“Families that are being separated — particularly women and children — will fall into the cracks of exploitation,” said Saeed Husain, a Karachi-based anthropologist who studies migration.

A climate of fear has fallen over Afghan refugee communities as the Pakistani government has carried out its deportation campaign. In the narrow alleys of the Karachi slums, the police move through homes, day and night. Inside markets, they search people with specific attire and appearances. On the roads, they make random stops to check identity documents.

Once apprehended, the Afghans board buses, police vans and even three-wheel rickshaws, headed to a feared destination: a detention center enclosed in barbed wire and guarded by armed officers. Behind these walls, the migrants learn their fate, out of view of journalists and rights activists.

Most of the Afghans confront collective deportation, returning to a homeland many of them have never seen, one where the Taliban are back in power and finding employment is difficult.

The crackdown intensified after Nov. 1, the deadline that Pakistan set when it announced a month before that unregistered foreigners must leave. More than 300,000 Afghan migrants, many of whom had resided in Pakistan for decades, have been forcibly returned to their homeland or have gone there voluntarily to avoid arrest and expulsion, according to Pakistani government statistics.

A group of Pakistani politicians and rights activists filed a petition in the country’s Supreme Court on Nov. 2, challenging what they called the government’s inhumane decision to expel illegal immigrants. The court rejected the petition, saying it did not raise any issues of fundamental rights.

The Pakistani authorities say they are enforcing immigration laws the same way any other country would. They say that they are not repatriating Afghans with valid documentation, and that deported people can apply for visas to reunite with relatives.

Still, families divided by the expulsions are facing wrenching choices. Gharib Nawaz, an Afghan baker born and raised in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, was arrested on Nov. 3 and subsequently deported because he lacked temporary documents needed for legal residence.

His wife, Nargis, a Pakistani national who uses one name, said her husband had thought that getting the documents would hurt his chances of becoming a citizen of Pakistan. But he was never able to gain citizenship: While foreign women who marry Pakistani men can become citizens under the law in Pakistan, there is no provision for foreign men who marry Pakistani women.

Now, Nargis, 28, must decide whether to remain in Pakistan, away from her husband, the family’s sole breadwinner, or to take their two daughters to Afghanistan, leaving her parents behind for a country where she has never set foot and where education is restricted for girls.

“My daughters aren’t willing to go to Afghanistan” and forgo their futures, she said.

She vented her anger at the Pakistani government, saying that while it cannot manage runaway inflation or militant attacks, it “is surprisingly efficient in tearing apart happy families and separating fathers from their children.”

Nargis is particularly concerned about the deteriorating relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are related primarily to a sharp increase in attacks inside Pakistan by fighters based across the border.

“I am afraid that such a hostile situation will make it difficult for my husband to re-enter Pakistan and reunite with his family,” she said.

The expulsion of some Afghans is prodding other family members to return to Afghanistan, too. Noor Khan, 55, a laborer at a vegetable market in Karachi, where he arrived from Afghanistan in the late 1980s, said he had decided to go back to Kabul by the end of November, even though he has temporary documentation that allows him to live legally in Pakistan.

On Nov. 4, one of Mr. Khan’s sons, Shahbaz, 20, was arrested after he left home to buy groceries. Shahbaz, who lacked documentation, called two days later from Spin Boldak, an Afghan border town, telling his family of his deportation. Shahbaz had no money or contacts in Afghanistan, but Mr. Khan arranged for him to stay with a distant relative in Kabul.

Mr. Khan said he would go to Kabul to avoid a potential forced expulsion. “I know that after undocumented migrants, it is our turn,” he said. “It’s a difficult decision, but it’s better than facing humiliation at the hands of the police in Pakistan.”

For the family of Mr. Gul, the garbage scavenger in Karachi, one lesson from his deportation was the futility of fighting the authorities.

After he and his son were arrested, they were taken to a police station. The boy was freed after the family paid a bribe, they said. But officials tore up a photocopy of Mr. Gul’s Afghan Citizen Card, a document issued by the Pakistani government allowing Afghan refugees to stay legally, the family said.

Nawaz Kakar, a relative who had found the father and son in the police station after they did not return home, said he showed the police Mr. Gul’s original citizenship card, but they would still not release him.

Mr. Gul went to court, where he received a two-month sentence, a $34 fine and a deportation order to be carried out after he served his sentence. But once the government started forced deportations at the Nov. 1 deadline, Mr. Kakar said, the jail authorities coerced Mr. Gul into putting his fingerprint on a document stating his willingness to be repatriated to Afghanistan.

A senior police official denied the accusations of bribery and document tempering, asserting that claims like these are fabricated by illegal migrants seeking to avoid deportation.

Mr. Kakar said the family’s main concerns now were who will care for Mr. Gul’s wife and children and whether Mr. Gul will be able to return to Pakistan. “Since Gul’s arrest, I’ve been assisting his family with food, but I can’t fully support them,” said Mr. Kakar, a father of five who earns $5 a day.

He said that, as Afghan citizens, Mr. Gul’s wife and children live in constant fear, unable to sleep peacefully, worried that they could be awakened any morning by a knock on the door.

A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 24, 2023, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Pakistan’s Mass Expulsion Is Ripping Families Apart. 
Families Ripped Apart as Pakistan Expels Tens of Thousands of Afghans
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Meeting of Islamic Emirate’s oppositions, Foreign Diplomats Held in Moscow

The envoy of Iran talked about the Islamic Emirate’s fight against Daesh and other groups in Afghanistan.

A meeting under the title of “Afghanistan in the past and future” with the participation of Islamic Emirate opponents and envoys of various countries was held on Thursday in Moscow.

The participants included former officials of the Afghan government and some other Afghan elites—who oppose the Islamic Emirate’s government, and envoys from Iran, Russia and some other countries.

They discussed the formation of an inclusive government, the situation of women, and the UN activities in Afghanistan.

“I emphasize that I am not taking sides with any power and military element. We want an Afghanistan with national consensus and stability with having the friendship policy towards the neighbors, region and world and have no enmity with anyone,” said Ahmad Masoud, leader of the so called Resistance Front.

The envoy of Iran talked about the Islamic Emirate’s fight against Daesh and other groups in Afghanistan.

“The Taliban’s fighting against the terrorist groups of Daesh Khorasan and the security cooperation between Afghanistan and the neighbors regarding fighting Daesh has been very valuable, as a result, some leaders of this group have been eliminated,” said an envoy from Iran in the meeting.

“Any meeting regarding the situation of Afghanistan could be beneficial. If we want Afghanistan’s issue to be solved completely, the Doha agreement could be a framework for it under the monitoring of the UN,” said Sayed Muqdam Ameen, political analyst.

The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that Kabul was not invited to the meeting, stressing that such meetings will not benefit Afghanistan.

He also urged the neighboring countries to not “create sedition among Afghans.”

“Some of the countries unfortunately want to revive the burned-out circles and create sedition. This is not a good step, we have made our objection to Russia. They should not interfere in other country’s affairs,” he said.

The meeting was held for one-day by a Russian justice institute.

Meeting of Islamic Emirate’s oppositions, Foreign Diplomats Held in Moscow
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Committee to Transfer Property of Afghans Deported From Pakistan Formed

He said that the committee will provide all necessary facilities for the Afghans.

The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said that a committee has been established to facilitate the transfer of property of Afghan refugees being deported by Pakistan.

He said that the committee will provide all necessary facilities for the Afghans.

This comes as the Afghan refugees, who were deported by Pakistan, complained about mistreatment by the Pakistan military, saying that their property was seized.

“When our refugees return, their properties will be shifted without any damage. Secondly, the Islamic Emirate appointed a special committee which is dedicated for the refugees who return and invest and do business. It will provide them facilities,” Mujahid said.

This comes as the deputy head of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI), Mohammad Younus Momand, said that the Islamic Emirate should reach an agreement with Pakistan over transferring the properties of Afghan refugees to the country.

“We have had a meeting with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce one and a half months ago. There are good frameworks. Every trader can come to Afghanistan and there are good facilities for them,” Momand said.

The economists said that transferring the property of Afghan refugees will benefit the Afghan economy.

“”The Islamic Emirate should form a framework to clarify how the Afghan traders can invest? How can they transfer their property? How they can shift their factories from Pakistan to Afghanistan?” said Mohammad Nabi, political analyst.

This comes as the UN World Food Programme is providing Afghan families who are being forced out of Pakistan with emergency assistance, the WFP said in a report.

“The situation is particularly dire as the harsh winter is only weeks away and the country is still reeling from devastating earthquakes, a battered economy and a worsening climate crisis,” said WFP Afghanistan Country Director Hsiao-Wei Lee as quoted in a report. “We urgently need US$ 27.5 million to support one million returnees from Pakistan arriving in Afghanistan and (to) help them get through the winter.”

Committee to Transfer Property of Afghans Deported From Pakistan Formed
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Pakistan Firm on Exit Fee for Afghans Waiting for Asylum in West

Officials in Pakistan have defended charging fees on Afghan nationals leaving the country or waiting for Western-sponsored resettlements, saying the decision complies with local immigration laws.

The targeted community comprises tens of thousands of people who worked for the U.S.-led NATO military mission in Afghanistan and fled the country fearing reprisals after the then-insurgent Taliban seized power in August 2021.

A Pakistani immigration official confirmed Friday that each Afghan asylum-seeker waiting to depart to a third country would be charged more than $800 for overstaying their visas or not possessing documents to stay legally.

“The government is doing a big favor to them. Otherwise, they would have to pay such amount every week in penalties,” the official told VOA anonymously because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

U.S. officials have reported that about 25,000 Afghans could be eligible for relocation to the United States under a special immigration program. Britain has announced it would resettle more than 20,000 people from Afghanistan in the coming years.

Western embassies in Islamabad offering resettlement plans have reportedly decried the imposition of exit fees as an unprecedented move and raised it with Pakistani authorities through relevant United Nations agencies.

Thursday, a Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected “inaccurate” media claims questioning the legality of the financial penalty or suggesting it is Afghan-specific.

“The fact is that under Pakistani laws, like the immigration laws in several countries, including the United Kingdom, there are fines and punishments for individuals who overstay their visas or are found to be in violation of immigration laws,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at her weekly news conference in Islamabad.

“So, any fines that Pakistan has imposed or will impose will be in conformity with our laws,” she said.

The imposition of exit fees comes amid mass deportations of foreigners, including an estimated 1.7 million Afghans illegally residing in Pakistan or overstaying their visas.

The crackdown has forced nearly 360,000 Afghans to return to their country of origin since mid-September, according to official data released Friday. Pakistani authorities have said those waiting for resettlement in the U.S. and other countries will not be deported to Afghanistan.

Pakistan has also repeatedly clarified that the 1.4 million legal Afghan refugees it hosts and more than 800,000 Afghan migrants registered by the Pakistani government in collaboration with the former Afghan government and the International Organization for Migration are not the subjects of the deportation plans.

The United Nations and partner agencies have repeatedly urged Islamabad to suspend its deportation plans, citing the onset of a harsh winter and the “worsening” Afghan humanitarian crisis.

Philippa Candler, representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, in Pakistan, said Tuesday that “mass arrivals are adding to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where winter temperatures are already dipping to -4°C (24.8° F) in some locations.

“Many Afghan returnees are vulnerable, including women and children, who could lose their lives in a harsh winter if left without adequate shelter,” Candler said.

Pakistan Firm on Exit Fee for Afghans Waiting for Asylum in West
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Female Afghan Students Decry US Visa Denial

Nineteen-year-old Dewa — not her real name — had an admission letter to an undergraduate college program in the United States and a scholarship covering all her expenses. But the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, rejected her student visa application, saying they believed she was intending to immigrate.

Following the initial refusal in August, Dewa made a second attempt in October, bolstering her application with a support letter from a U.S. congressman urging the embassy to give “full and fair consideration” to her case.

That didn’t work either.

In recounting her experience with VOA over the phone, Dewa said, “The visa officer only said that I did not prove that I will return to my home country.”

The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan did not respond to emailed inquiries and phone calls.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State confirmed to VOA that all visa applications, including student visas, are adjudicated in accordance with the Immigration and Nationality Act. That includes the requirement to overcome the presumption of immigration intent.

“Consular officers assess the circumstances of each student visa applicant and our guidance instructs consular officers to adjudicate student visa applications based on the applicant’s present intent rather than to speculate about what might happen in the future,” the spokesperson wrote.

Now facing the prospect of deportation from Pakistan as her short-term visa expires in two weeks, Dewa is confronted with the grim reality of her future in Afghanistan, where the Taliban have imposed restrictions on education for girls, closure of secondary schools and universities, and serious limitations on women’s work.

In support of Dewa’s dream of an education in the United States, her father borrowed $4,000 from relatives to pay for their trip to Pakistan, accommodation, and visa application fees.

“I feel terrified every time I remember that my family has wasted everything we had in my journey for education,” Dewa says.

Dewa’s plight is further compounded by the trauma of a deadly earthquake in October that destroyed her family’s home in Herat province.

Three other female students, who did not want their real names to be used in this article, shared similar accounts, revealing that their visa applications to the U.S. and Canadian embassies in Islamabad were denied, despite each presenting fully funded scholarship awards.

“My visa application was rejected summarily on the ground that I did not prove strong ties to my country,” said Fahima Amini, who has been admitted to a postgraduate program at Niagara University in the United States.

Shukria Ahmadzai, another student, faced delays and an eventual rejection by the Canadian Embassy without an explanation.

Describing the decisions as “callous” and “illogical,” these Afghan female students voiced how their dreams for education and a better future have been shattered.

“We are condemned in Afghanistan just because of our gender, and we are rejected by the rest of the world,” said Amini, whose visa applications to both the U.S. and Canada were denied last year.

Human rights groups are urging the United Nations to officially recognize what they term “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan and hold Taliban officials accountable for misogynistic policies.

Some also point to stringent visa requirements as a hurdle for Afghan women seeking education abroad.

“If the Taliban’s policy is monstrous, inhumane, and illegal, so too is the U.S. government’s apparent policy of excluding women from Afghanistan from entering the United States,” said Kevin Hinkley, a professor of political science and co-director of the Justice House Program at Niagara University.

Hinkley highlighted the challenges faced by two of the four Afghan women admitted for the 2024 cohort at Niagara University, who have been attempting to obtain U.S. visas since 2021.

Despite repeated declarations of support for Afghan women by U.S. officials, Hinkley criticized the lack of tangible action.

“The Biden administration’s policy — as enforced by the U.S. State Department’s Consular Affairs Bureau at the embassy in Islamabad — appears to be one of systematic discrimination and exclusion, denying Afghan women and girls access to educational opportunities in the U.S. on the same terms as international students from any other country in the world.”

Hundreds granted visas

In the wake of the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, the closure of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul has left Afghan citizens seeking U.S. consular services with limited options, often requiring them to travel to a third country, predominantly neighboring Pakistan.

However, for many, especially women without a male chaperone, the journey from Afghanistan to Pakistan is fraught with difficulties and steep costs.

In contrast to the stringent no-immigration intent requirement for U.S. student visas, several European countries have stepped up to offer refugee status to Afghan women due to the Taliban’s pervasive gender discrimination and persecution within Afghanistan.

“Being a woman from Afghanistan is in itself considered to be a sufficient basis for obtaining protection in Sweden,” Carl Bexelius, an official at the Swedish Migration Agency, said last year.

“From now on, women and girls from Afghanistan will be covered by section 7, subsection 1 of the Aliens Act. 1, (asylum) solely because of their gender,” the Danish Refugee Board said in a statement in January.

The United States has admitted tens of thousands of Afghans over the past two years, mostly individuals who worked for the U.S. military in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2001.

The number of Afghans awarded student visa has also gone up significantly. From September 2021 to September 2023, at least 700 student visas were issued to Afghan applicants compared to about 180 student visas awarded in the two preceding years, according to the Department of State.

However, the Department of State refrained from disclosing the number of rejected student visa applications, stating that publicly available data does not include a breakdown of student visa refusals or total applications by applicant country.

Those denied a visa, like Dewa, question the apparent disparity between the U.S.’s official policy of supporting Afghan women and the hurdles faced by individuals seeking education in America.

“How can the U.S. embrace Afghan men through a special immigration program, individuals with a history of violence, corruption, and failure, while rejecting girls who come to America for education?” she asked.

Female Afghan Students Decry US Visa Denial
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