‘Kill me here, but I am not going back’: An Afghan refugee in Pakistan

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Islamabad, Pakistan – On a recent October evening, 41-year-old Shakira Aslami was washing dishes in the tiny kitchen of her two-room apartment when she heard a commotion outside.

As she opened the door, her son rushed in. “They are here, the police are here,” Milad told his mother in a panic.

Shakira knew what she had to do: she searched the apartment for the bag that contained her family’s most prized possessions – their passports and visa papers – while her daughter, Lima, kept watch from the stairwell as three police officers made their way through the building.

“I could see from the stairs of our fourth-floor apartment, three men were on the first floor, shouting and yelling,” Lima recalled.

Shakira found the bag – a blue backpack that Lima used to take to school with her back in Afghanistan – and frantically pulled out the papers, just as the men began banging on her door.

She presented the passports and documents to the police officers – two of whom were in plain clothes and the other in uniform and carrying a gun. One of them, she said, “shouted that I cannot live here and tried to snatch the papers from me, threatening to arrest me”.

Her neighbours – almost all of them refugees like Shakira and her family who had fled Afghanistan for Pakistan after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 – came out of their apartments and began remonstrating with the police officers.

“Our neighbours came out and shouted: ‘You cannot enter a house like this, a woman is alone there’,” she said. Shakira’s husband was at the market buying groceries and she was alone in the apartment with their four children – seven-year-old Mansoor, 10-year-old Masood, 13-year-old Milad and 17-year-old Lima.

Shakira said the police officers eventually left, but not without being bribed. On two occasions since, other police officers have visited her home, with each set more threatening than those who came before them.

“They said if we want to continue living here, we must give them something to stay quiet or else,” she said, adding: “This is what worries me the most. They know we all live here, they can come back anytime they want and throw us away.”

Living in limbo

Although Shakira was alarmed when the police first came, she was not surprised. She had heard about the Pakistani government’s campaign to repatriate undocumented Afghans by the end of October. She had even learned from neighbours that countdown advertisements were being placed in newspapers and on television as the deadline for people to leave approached.

Pakistan is home to almost 3.8 million Afghans. They fled to Pakistan in various waves in the decades since the Soviet invasion of the country in 1979. Between 600,000 and 800,000 are believed to have arrived since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

While the majority hold some form of documentation permitting them to stay in Pakistan, government officials say more than 1.4 million are undocumented. Among them are people who were born in Pakistan and have never even been to Afghanistan.

Shakira and her family arrived in Pakistan on a one-year visa in February 2022.

“My family applied for a visa extension in May – all six of us – but we have not received any response, neither to tell us it has been rejected or accepted,” she explained. “We had to pay close to 10,000 rupees ($30) per person to apply for a visa. If the government doesn’t want to issue us a visa, why take our money?”

To illustrate the point, Shakira’s husband, 40-year-old Ahmad Fahim, removed the family’s passports, identification documents, academic degrees and employment cards from the backpack and spread them out on the carpet.

“We are living in limbo and have no way to find out the fate of our application. Now, we are scared we may get thrown out of the country,” Shakira added, clear about one thing: she will not return to Afghanistan.

“Kill me here, or let me live, but I am not going to go back,” she said, defiantly.

‘Leaving our entire lives behind’

Back in Kabul, Shakira, a former history and geography teacher, worked as a medical technician in the same hospital where her husband was a logistics manager. They had a good life, jobs they enjoyed and a home that was a hub for friends and family who would gather there to appreciate Shakira’s cooking and hospitality.

Shakira remembers her home with pride. It had three bedrooms, two large drawing rooms – one for men and one for women – and was in an affluent neighbourhood popular with ethnic Tajiks like Shakira.

Ahmad Fahim, a broad-shouldered man with a friendly disposition and an expressive face, is an ethnic Uzbek. The two are paternal cousins and married almost 20 years ago after their union was arranged by their families. At first, they lived in their home province, Faryab, which is close to the border with Tajikistan before moving to Kabul, where they raised their family and built a happy life together.

“Our home had an open door for all our relatives and friends visiting the city. They’d come to stay with us, and I loved hosting them,” Shakira recalled with a smile as Lima brought kava, a beverage made by boiling green tea leaves with cinnamon and cardamom, in the thermos flask the family brought with them from Afghanistan. She poured it into glass cups and offered a bowl of brightly-coloured candies.

Afghan family in Pakistan
An old photo of Ahmad Fahim with his three sons in Kabul [Courtesy of Ahmad Fahim]

As Shakira described how she used to love to buy new home furnishings for their house, Ahmad Fahim interrupted her. “Even though we both earned well, it seemed as if she had a hole in her hand,” he joked, shaking his head.

“I like good things!” Shakira protested gently.

She had to leave all of those things behind – a favourite sofa and the family’s bedsheets were among the most painful possessions to part with.

Shakira had been a member of women-led groups that demanded greater rights for Afghan women and when the Taliban returned to power, she participated in several protests.

Her female manager at the hospital also participated in the protests and was warned by the Taliban authorities that if the marches did not stop, the participants would be imprisoned. Then, Shakira’s manager was fired and replaced by a Taliban official. A month later, Shakira and four other female employees of the hospital were told to stay home.

Fearing further reprisals, Shakira and Ahmad Fahim decided to leave the country. They applied for Pakistani visas and began selling off their belongings. A month later, they received their visas.

“We left our home one day after receiving our visa documents. I did not want to stay back for a second. I didn’t want to put myself or my family in any kind of danger,” Shakira said.

They headed for Torkham, the main border crossing between the two countries, “leaving our entire lives behind”.

They took only what they could carry with them – a suitcase, the thermos, a large quilt, the blue backpack, a laptop, a sewing machine and nearly 500,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,800).

‘Worth less than a rupee’

Now, their home is a sparsely furnished rented apartment in a low-income neighbourhood on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Since the government announced that undocumented Afghan refugees would be forcefully repatriated, Shakira said, it feels more like a prison than a home. Every time there is a knock on the door, she is filled with dread.

But it was not always this way, she explained, as light drifted in through the only window in the room and her husband and children sat around her. When they first moved in 16 months ago, the apartment felt like a refuge, she said; a huge improvement on the tent they had spent three months living in before they moved in.

It was difficult to find somewhere to live. With an influx of Afghan refugees arriving in the months after August 2021, rents in Islamabad had skyrocketed. And property owners often either charged a premium from Afghans or refused to rent to them. As they searched for a suitable place, Pakistan’s worsening economic situation and rising inflation ate up their savings – making it more and more difficult to find somewhere they could afford.

Shakira and Ahmad Fahim found odd jobs – she sewed clothes; he worked in laundries and as a barbecue chef in restaurants across the city.

“The problem is, because we don’t have any documentation, nobody wants to hire us, even though we were both working professionals in Kabul,” Shakira explained. Ahmad Fahim nodded.

He often takes odd day labourer jobs in the hope of making some money but says that employers sometimes take advantage of his undocumented status – refusing to pay him or paying him less than was agreed once he has done the work.

Afghan family in Pakistan
Ahmad Fahim worked at a restaurant in Islamabad as a BBQ chef [Courtesy of Ahmad Fahim]

But what hurts his pride the most, he said, is the xenophobia he has encountered. “I have met quite a few people while trying to find work,” he explained, emotion creeping into his voice. “Some of them have quite literally said I am worth less than a rupee. One person said I am not even a human, just because I am an Afghan without documentation.”

He said many Pakistanis suspect Afghans like him have dollars – believing that they must have worked for US organisations before the United States abandoned the country. “They see us as a golden goose for them to fleece and flog,” he said. But, he added, “if we had dollars, we’d have given bribes to get ourselves visas.”

Still, Ahmad Fahim said he does not tar every Pakistani with the same brush. “Most of the Pakistanis who are poor like us, I found to be the most helpful and supportive,” he explained.

There is one Pakistani man he recalls with particular fondness. Shortly after they arrived in Pakistan, Ahmad Fahim found work in a laundry in Rawalpindi. “It was one of the first jobs I got after moving to Pakistan, and my task was to press clothes and fold them at this small laundry shop,” he said.

“My co-worker was from Mardan [a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province] and he realised my situation. Without even having to ask, he bought me a mobile SIM [card] himself. He just said, ‘Let me help you out, don’t thank me.’”

Without a Pakistani national identity card, Ahmad Fahim would not have been able to get a local mobile connection by himself. The two men stayed in touch until earlier this year when the Pakistani man moved back to his hometown and they lost contact with each other.

There are other Pakistanis who have shown compassion to the family. The couple are particularly grateful to a doctor in one of the hospitals in the city who provided free medication, a check-up and other treatment for their 10-year-old son Masood, who has type 2 diabetes.

“One insulin injection costs over 14,000 rupees [$50], almost as much as our rent. But God bless the doctor. It is a miracle to find such people in a city where you don’t know anybody,” Shakira said.

But mostly they have found support among other Afghan families. That is why this apartment once felt like a safe space. Afghan families occupied most of the apartments located along the five-storey building’s long corridors.

A young woman who lived with her family in one of the apartments would teach the children English. But when the Pakistani government began its repatriation campaign, her family decided to move back to Afghanistan.

“I wish I could get back in touch with her whenever she reaches Kabul so maybe she can teach us online,” Lima said wistfully. “Because now all I do at home is get into a staring contest with the walls.”

Shakira’s days are similarly spent stuck in the apartment. Her daily routine now involves cleaning the house, washing the clothes and dishes, teaching her children, who have not gone to school since they moved to Islamabad, and sometimes sewing clothes for other families in the building, in the hope of earning some money.

Even before the government announced that undocumented Afghans would be expelled, Shakira said, families like hers tried to stay under the radar as much as possible for fear of being picked up by the police.

“We were scared of being reported, and now with the government announcement, that fear has only multiplied,” Ahmad Fahim explained.

He avoids Pakistani acquaintances in case they report him or demand a bribe and also turns down jobs that are too far from home, in case the police come again and he is unable to get back in time to be with his family. Shakira and the children, meanwhile, avoid leaving the apartment. It is a big difference from the life they were used to in Kabul.

Milad said back in Afghanistan, he would play football outside with his older sister and other children from the neighbourhood. Lima said she misses being able to roam freely with her friends. “We had a great life, a normal life, and that is the one thing that I miss the most,” Lima reflected, adding: “I don’t think I can ever get that again.”

The highlight of Shakira’s week now is her weekly visit to a nearby market with a few other Afghan women from the building.

“I get to haggle a bit and now some of them know me, so I get an extra discount,” she said with a chuckle. “Besides, it’s not as if I buy a lot, only a little bit of potatoes, some lentils, red beans, and flour.”

To ensure the groceries last for the whole week, Shakira rations her family’s meals. Meat and rice, a staple of the family’s diet in Kabul, is off the menu here – as are many of the other dishes she used to cook in Afghanistan, including bolani, a type of flatbread filled with minced meat that her children loved, aushak, a dumpling filled with chives and topped with tomato sauce and yoghurt, and the traditional Afghan pilav.

“[In Afghanistan,] it was a routine for us to prepare dinner, sit together and tell each other about how we spent our day, and what we did,” Shakira recalled. “We still eat together, but obviously, we don’t have much to tell each other.”

‘Running out of hope’

But returning to the life they left behind is not an option for them, they said. “In earlier times, they [Taliban] were barbaric, and it was horrible. We had to wear burqas to cover ourselves completely and barely got a chance to go outside,” Shakira recalled, adding: “I don’t want that life again.”

“We cannot go back to Kabul any more,” Ahmad Fahim said categorically. “My wife could get caught by the Taliban, and my son won’t get the treatment he requires for his diabetes. I cannot put their life in peril knowingly. We won’t go back.”

But even as they remain resolute, the couple feels as though the walls of their lives are closing in on them.

“My wife and I spend nights awake just thinking and worrying what if the police carry out a raid,” Ahmad Fahim explained.

Shakira said her anxiety was now such that she could not sleep at all.

“God tells us to be grateful all the time,” Ahmad Fahim said softly, looking around at his children beside him. “I try to live day by day and say the same to my family, the way we used to in Kabul. But now I am running out of hope. I don’t know what I can do. I don’t know what choice I have.”

He has a strong faith, Ahmad Fahim said, and has always believed in miracles, but he acknowledged that for the first time, he was beginning to doubt there would be divine help for his family.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
‘Kill me here, but I am not going back’: An Afghan refugee in Pakistan
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Islamic Emirate Allocates 2 Billion Afs for Returnees

The Islamic Emirate recently allocated two billion afghanis to refugees returning from Pakistan.

Officials said that the Islamic Emirate is working to provide facilities for migrants returning from Pakistan. 

At the same time, the Chinese ambassador in a meeting with the acting foreign minister also pledged that Beijing is ready to cooperate with the refugees returning from Pakistan.

The Islamic Emirate recently allocated two billion afghanis to refugees returning from Pakistan.

The officials of the Islamic Emirate emphasized that this fund was allocated for the purpose of providing shelter, food items and providing medical service to returnees.

“According to the decree of the leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, two billion Afs have been allocated for transfer to provide basic and necessary supplies for the refugees who return,”  said Latifullah Hakimi, Inspector General of the MoD.

“Refugees coming from Pakistan to Afghanistan are well appreciated and they are getting registered, they receive financial assistance and also food assistance with families, and if anyone needs treatment, our mobile team is there,” Zabihullah Mujahid said.

Meanwhile, Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting Foreign Minister, met with the Chinese Ambassador to Kabul to discuss the security and economic issues and challenges for Afghan refugees following Pakistan’s decision to deport them.

China’s ambassador to Kabul pledged that Beijing is ready to cooperate with the refugees from Pakistan.

The Ministry of Economy also said that the Islamic Emirate has provided necessary assistance to returnees.

“A specific amount by the Islamic Emirate has been allocated for returning refugees to meet the basic and urgent needs of our compatriots,” said Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy minister of the economy.

The returning refugees said that all of their assets remain in Pakistan and they are facing many economic challenges.

“We call on the government to help us and they must do so urgently. Among these people are women with various illnesses,” said Zekrya Khan, a returnee.

According to the Islamic Emirate, more than 180,000 Afghan refugees have returned from Pakistan in the past four days.

Islamic Emirate Allocates 2 Billion Afs for Returnees
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Taliban appeal to Afghan private sector to help those fleeing Pakistan’s mass deportation drive

Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban on Saturday appealed to Afghanistan’s private sector to help people fleeing Pakistan’s mass deportation drive.

Pakistan is arresting and expelling all foreigners it says are in the country illegally, but the policy mostly affects Afghans because they are the biggest group of undocumented foreigners in the country.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Kabul urged Afghanistan’s private sector to step forward and help.

The Taliban made a similar plea last month after devastating earthquakes killed thousands of people and flattened entire villages in the west, asking Afghanistan’s “wealthy compatriots” to help survivors and affected communities. Nobody from the Taliban-led administration was available for comment Saturday.

Afghans forcibly expelled from Pakistan are facing the worst situation of their lives, with no opportunities, the ministry said.

“The ministry invites the private sector to take action because of the profound humanitarian disaster caused by the forced migration of hundreds of thousands of the poor and needy. It is the duty of Islam and Afghans to stand up for their fellow countrymen.”

Afghanistan is overwhelmed by challenges, including years of drought, a beleaguered economy and the aftermath of decades of war. Millions are already internally displaced, raising concerns among the humanitarian community about the impoverished country being unable to support or integrate those leaving Pakistan.

Taliban social media accounts have shown senior officials at the Torkham border, in eastern Nangarhar province, shaking hands with returning Afghans and welcoming them home. Temporary camps are providing people with food, shelter, and health care, according to Taliban authorities.

As many as 250,000 Afghans left Pakistan before an Oct. 31 deadline to leave voluntarily expired. Tens of thousands are heading to border areas fearing detention and deportation as Pakistan security forces go door-to-door searching for undocumented foreigners.

Aid agencies have scrambled teams to border areas, describing chaotic and desperate scenes among returning Afghans.

People told Save the Children they have nowhere to live or money to pay for food, rent or transport after crossing the border. Some Afghan children born in Pakistan are in Afghanistan for the first time, the agency said.

The deportation drive marks a spike in tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban.

Pakistan says Afghans are responsible for carrying out suicide attacks in the country and accuses the Taliban of harboring such militants. The Taliban deny the allegations.

On Friday, senior Taliban figures again condemned Pakistan for its anti-migrant crackdown. They called the policy cruel and one-sided and demanded that Afghans be treated with respect and dignity.

The Taliban’s acting defense minister in Kabul, Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid, issued a warning to Pakistan.

“Pakistan should face the consequences of its actions and reap what it sows,” he said. “What is going on right now will have a negative impact on relations between both countries.”

 

Taliban appeal to Afghan private sector to help those fleeing Pakistan’s mass deportation drive
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Afghan opium poppy cultivation plunges by 95 percent under Taliban: UN

Al Jazeera
Published On 5 Nov 2023

Poppy cultivation and opium production have plunged more than 90 percent in Afghanistan since Taliban authorities banned the crop last April, according to a UN report published on Sunday.

Poppy cultivation has dropped by around 95 percent – from 233,000 hectares at the end of 2022 to 10,800 in 2023 – since the Taliban officially banned poppy farming in April 2022, according to the report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Opium production has taken the same path, falling from 6,200 tonnes to 333 tonnes over the same period giving a major blow to Afghan farmers who have experienced a staggering $1bn drop in their revenue.

UN officials said that while this trend could help in the fight against the illicit opium trade, it also presented risks to a vulnerable population that has long depended on the poppy trade for their livelihood.

“This presents a real opportunity to build towards long-term results against the illicit opium market and the damage it causes both locally and globally,” said Ghada Waly, executive director of UNODC.

“At the same time, there are important consequences and risks that need to be addressed for an outcome that is ultimately positive and sustainable, especially for the people of Afghanistan.”

The country has been facing humanitarian and financial hardships after the Taliban stormed to power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces. The group has struggled to revive the economy due to international sanctions and its financial and diplomatic isolation.

Humanitarian crisis

Opium poppy, which grows extensively in Afghanistan’s southern fields, contains the main opium ingredient used to manufacture heroin.

Afghanistan was previously the world’s top opium producer – responsible for over 80 percent of global supply – and a major source of heroin in Europe and Asia.

The Taliban once played a major role in this industry as well, generating an estimated $400m from the trade between 2018 and 2019 that helped fund its activities, US officials reported.

However, the group has pledged to eliminate this drug cultivation enterprise after seizing power, instituting a formal ban on the crop in April 2022. This proved devastating to rural farmers who long relied on the crop for their income, and compounded a humanitarian crisis that is among the worst in the world.

More than two years after the Taliban took over, Afghans continue to struggle with drought and the prolonged effects of decades of war and natural disasters. Today, more than 40 percent of Afghanis suffer from acute food insecurity and more than half rely on humanitarian aid.

UNODC executive director Waly said the loss of the opium trade was adding to the country’s humanitarian needs.

“Afghanistan is in dire need of strong investment in sustainable livelihoods to provide Afghans with opportunities away from opium,” she said.

The financial shock to the opiate supply chain could drive other illegal activities, like the smuggling of arms, people, or synthetic drugs, the recent UNODC report said.

A September report from the UNODC said that Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of another drug methamphetamine, known colloquially as speed, crystal or meth. Seizures of the synthetic drug have increased amid a drop in poppy cultivation.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
Afghan opium poppy cultivation plunges by 95 percent under Taliban: UN
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Pakistan starts mass deportation of undocumented Afghans

in Islamabad

The Guardian

Pakistan has begun arresting and deporting Afghan refugees who missed Wednesday morning’s deadline for them to leave, a government minister has announced. At least 200,000 people have already returned to Afghanistan voluntarily, said Pakistan’s acting interior minister, Sarfraz Bugti.

The crackdown on unregistered foreigners, part of Pakistan’s new anti-immigrant policy, affects some 2 million Afghans thought to be in Pakistan without documentation.

Bugti said: “There will be no compromise against illegal refugees. We have the data on who are staying illegally in Pakistan. We are going door to door, and we have done geofencing. We will detain and deport them. We have arrested dozens across the country so far, including in the capital.”

Afghans would be put in buses, trucks or whatever was available to transport them to the border, said Bugti, and authorities would be tracking them to ensure they did not return. He attacked the west for not doing enough to help relocate Afghans at risk from Taliban retaliation if they return.

Pakistan’s policy of forcibly returning refugees has drawn widespread criticism from UN agencies and rights groups, and from the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, which has urged its neighbour to give undocumented Afghans more time. Although the numbers of Afghans crossing into Pakistan rose dramatically after the Taliban takeover, many others have been living and working in Pakistan for years.

Refugee holding camps have been established for the thousands waiting to cross the border. In Chaman, a border town with Afghanistan, more than 1,000 refugees are staying in temporary shelters, anxiously waiting their turn to be deported. Gul Mohammed, an Afghan in his 50s, said he does not know what he would do in his home country, having lived in Pakistan for many years and with family there.

“I will see what I can do to survive in Afghanistan after I reach there. I have tried to contact those who have reached Afghanistan to know how they are doing, but I failed. Uncertainty waits for many of us,” said Mohammed.

Pakistan started rounding up Afghan refugees before the deadline had expired, and police have been accused of the harassment of both illegal and legal refugees. In the Chaman camp, Saddam, who moved to Pakistan seven years ago, said the constant police raids had made him leave. “They were raiding, arresting and harassing us, and I was forced to leave for Afghanistan. The police were hurting our dignity by their cruel behaviour.”

Also in the camp was Mir Agha, 23, who said: “I was born and raised in Pakistan. All my siblings were born here. We had proof of refugee cards given by the UNHCR but they were scissored by the police after they arrested us.

“Pakistan is now home, not Afghanistan, and we will be refugees there. We can’t relate there. We are refugees in both countries. I’m worried about how I will survive and live there.”

Chaman district’s deputy commissioner Raja Athar Abbas said authorities have deported at least 4,000 people on Wednesday. For the 1,000 refugees in the camp, he said: “We are providing them boarding, lodging, food, medical and municipal services, and we have registered them with us before we deport them,” he said.

The UNHCR has raised fears over forced deportations, especially of minorities, journalists and women, who are at risk under the Taliban regime. Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, said these groups would not be forced to return: “The fear of deportation of journalists, activists and minority groups are in our notice and we will take due precautions.”

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
But thousands of Afghans who worked for the US, Britain and other western countries before the Taliban takeover are stranded in Pakistan. Bugti said that if the west was so sensitive about the Afghan refugees, they should have done more to relocate them in the two years since the fall of Kabul. “We set a deadline for those Afghans who are supposed be relocated to the western countries such as the US, UK and other countries. If they are not taken to the west by the deadline, we have to declare them illegal refugees, then detain and deport them,” said Bugti.

A senior US official estimated that there are still 25,000 Afghans who could be eligible for resettlement in the United States. “We are actively reaching out to and communicating with those individuals. Many within these groups would be placed at risk if repatriated to Afghanistan,” said the official.

Pakistan starts mass deportation of undocumented Afghans
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Americans Detained in Afghanistan ‘Highest Priority’: Decker

Decker said on X that her country would not hesitate to make any effort to repatriate US citizens detained in Afghanistan.

Karen Decker, Chargé d’Affaires of the US Mission to Afghanistan, said that bringing Americans who are detained in Afghanistan back home is Washington’s priority.

Decker said on X that her country would not hesitate to make any effort to repatriate US citizens detained in Afghanistan.

“We will never stop working to bring home Americans wrongfully detained in Afghanistan. It is our highest priority,” she wrote.

The Islamic Emirate has not yet made any comment in this regard, but earlier the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, told TOLOnews that some foreign nationals have been detained.

Political analysts said that the release of the foreign nationals would help improve the relations between Kabul and the international community.

“Both of the countries can consider the needs and release the prisoners, so the relations would be improved,” said Moeen Gul Samkanai, political analyst.

“If their [prisoners’] crime is not big, then based on our domestic laws, they could be pardoned, so there will be a [way] for positive engagement,” said Abdul Sadiq Hamidzoi, a political analyst.

In August this year, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West and the Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights, Rina Amiri, in a meeting with senior Islamic Emirate representatives in Doha, discussed the removal of restrictions on women and girls, including access to education and work; release of detainees; end to corporal punishment, and crackdowns on media and freedom of expression.

Americans Detained in Afghanistan ‘Highest Priority’: Decker
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Pakistan Continues Mass Deportation of Afghan Refugees

The refugees, with most of them facing an uncertain future, are temporarily settled in the Torkham area of Nangarhar.

Thousands of Afghan refugees are entering through Torkham crossing as Pakistan continues to implement mass deportations of refugees despite facing a backlash internationally. 

Drivers of passenger vehicles told TOLOnews that thousands of refugees are stranded on the other side of the Durand Line, facing a shortage of water and other essential needs.

The refugees, with most of them facing an uncertain future, are temporarily settled in the Torkham area of Nangarhar.

Youth, traders and other organizations are voluntarily engaged in helping the refugees, providing them with food and medical assistance.

“When we came here, we brought bread, beans, fresh fruits and oil with us,” said Shad Noor Mazlomyar, deputy head  of the Chamber of Craftsmen and Shopkeepers.

“We ask everyone including the shopkeepers, bakers and others to chip in,” said Ghulam Dastageer, craftsman.

The drivers said that the Afghan refugees on the other side of the Durand Line, whom Pakistan collected to deport to Afghanistan, face dire conditions and many have no access to water and other needs.

“When we talked to the people who were on the way, they told us that they had not eaten food for three to four days,” said Adel Shinwari, a deportee.

“The people are stranded on the streets in Lahore, Islamabad and across Torkham [crossing]. There are women and children among them who are based on the street,” said Abdul Wali Walizai, a deportee.

Islamic Emirate officials said that they provide meals for 40,000 refugees.

“We have talked with Kabul Silo [governmental bakery]. We have asked them to provide us with 100,000 loaves of bread. They have brought their six machines to the area,” said Sayed Ahmad Mustaqeem, deputy Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.

Pakistan pushed hundreds of thousands of refugees to return to Afghanistan as the November 1 deadline announced by its caretaker government has passed.

Pakistan Continues Mass Deportation of Afghan Refugees
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Pakistan speeds up Afghans’ repatriation as deadline expires

By  and 

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 3 (Reuters) – Pakistan opened more border centres on Friday to speed up the return of tens of thousands of undocumented Afghans, an official said, two days after a deadline to leave or face expulsion expired and ignoring pleas to give the plan a rethink.

Pakistan has brushed off calls from the United Nations, rights groups and Western embassies to reconsider expelling more than a million of 4 million Afghans in the country, saying they had been involved in Islamist militant attacks and crimes that undermined the security of the country.

Afghanistan denies the accusations.

The U.N. refugee agency, the International Organisation for Migration and the U.N. Children’s Fund on Friday expressed concern for the safety of children and families affected by the expulsion, saying a humanitarian crisis was unfolding with winter on the way.

Mullah Hassan Akhund, prime minister in Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration, also expressed reservations.

“It is 100% against all principles, come and talk face to face,” he said in a video-recorded statement.

Facilities at the main northwestern border crossing of Torkham have been increased three times to cater for the rising number of returnees, said Abdul Nasir Khan, deputy commissioner for Khyber district.

“Everything is normal now as the returnees no longer need to wait in queues for hours,” he told Reuters.

Those arriving in Afghanistan complained of hardships.

“We spent three days on border in Pakistan. We had very bad situation,” said Mohammad Ismael Rafi, 55, who said he lived for 22 years in the southwestern Pakistani border town of Chaman where he had a retail business.

“Thank God that we have arrived back to our country,” he said. It took him six days to leave his home in Pakistan with his 16 family members and belongings to reach a makeshift tent village on the other side of the border.

Rafi accused Pakistani officials of taking bribes, a charge Islamabad denies.

Afghan schoolboy Sarfraz, 16, who goes by one name, said he and his father had never visited Afghanistan and did not want to go there now. His grandfather migrated to Pakistan decades ago.

“Where should we go?” he asked in response to a Reuters query in northwestern Peshawar. “There is no work there. We’re poor people. We are being forced. We have to leave.”

TRANSIT CAMPS

The Taliban administration in Afghanistan, scrambling to cope with the sudden influx, has set up temporary transit camps where food and medical assistance will be provided.

Refugee groups have reported chaotic and desperate scenes at the camps.

Pakistani authorities started rounding up foreigners, most of them Afghans, hours before the deadline.

Many of the migrants fled Afghanistan during the decades of armed conflict since the late 1970s, while the Islamist Taliban’s takeover after the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces in 2021 led to another exodus.

Khan, the official, said 19,744 Afghans had crossed the Torkham border on Thursday, 147,949 in total since the government announced the deadline.

More than 50,000 have left through southwestern Pakistani border crossing at Chaman, the minister for information in Balochistan, Jan Achakzai, told Reuters.

Pakistani authorities said they were open to delaying repatriation for people with health or other issues, including a seven-month pregnant woman who was told on Friday to stay in Pakistan until she had given birth.

Islamabad says many of the undocumented Afghans have obtained national identity cards through illegitimate means. The government has been identifying and blocking all such suspected cards.

Writing by Asif Shahzad; Reporting by Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar and Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul; Additional reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Kim Coghill and Nick Macfie

Pakistan speeds up Afghans’ repatriation as deadline expires
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World Bank: Half of All Afghans Are Living in Poverty

It’s stated in the report that imports reached US$ 5.7 billion, showing a 27 percent growth.

The World Bank in its latest monthly report called the “Afghanistan Economic Monitor,” said that half of all Afghans are living in poverty.

According to the statement, from January to September 2023, total exports amounted to US$1.3 billion.

“From January to September 2023, total exports amounted to US$1.3 billion, representing a slight decrease of 0.5 percent compared to the same period in 2022, and Pakistan remains Afghanistan’s largest export market, accounting for 55 percent of total exports, followed by India at 29 percent.”

It’s stated in the report that imports reached US$ 5.7 billion, showing a 27 percent growth.

“Certainly, in these nine months, our exports have decreased, and the reason for the decrease is that we did not export coal from the country, and secondly, we had these problems at the borders with our neighbors,” said Khairuddin Maiel, deputy of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment.

Meanwhile, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in a joint statement warned that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 18 hunger hotspots – comprising a total of 22 countries.

“One of the main reasons why Afghanistan’s economy is in the current situation is that after the fall of the republic and the suspension of international aid, unfortunately, the economy has shrunk by 25% in the last two years,” said Sayar Qurishi, an economist.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Economy emphasized that for economic progress in the country, it is necessary for the international community to remove the restrictions imposed on the economic sector.

“Our demand from the international community is not to make the people of Afghanistan suffer, and for the economic progress and development of Afghanistan. The removal of restrictions and obstacles is a necessity,” said Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy of the Ministry of Economy.

Earlier, the World Bank had written in a report that after the establishment of the Islamic Emirate, Afghanistan’s economy  has stagnated and the unemployment rate in the country has doubled.

World Bank: Half of All Afghans Are Living in Poverty
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Pakistan: 200,000 Afghan Nationals Returned Home


Afghan refugee children sit on a truck loaded with belongings as they and their families prepare to return home, outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees repatriation centers in Azakhel town in Nowshera, Pakistan, Oct. 30, 2023.
Afghan refugee children sit on a truck loaded with belongings as they and their families prepare to return home, outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees repatriation centers in Azakhel town in Nowshera, Pakistan, Oct. 30, 2023.
Pakistan said Monday that almost 200,000 Afghan nationals voluntarily returned to Afghanistan over the past two months ahead of an official deadline for all illegally residing foreigners to leave or face deportation.

The Pakistani government has ordered “illegal/unregistered foreigners” and those “overstaying their visa validity periods” to return to their countries of origin by November 1.

Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti told a news conference Monday that individuals who remain in the country past the deadline will be detained and held in designated “holding centers” before being transported to the nearest Afghan border crossing and repatriated.

He reiterated that the crackdown was not aimed at any specific nationality, though he said the targeted community primarily comprises people from Afghanistan.

Bugti, when announcing the deadline in early October, said that an estimated 1.7 million Afghans are among those facing forcible return.

The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, reports Pakistan currently is hosting about 1.4 legally registered Afghan refugees and nearly 900,000 Afghans documented as economic migrants. Another 700,000 fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in August 2021 and took refuge in the neighboring country.

“We have appealed to Pakistan to continue its protection of all vulnerable Afghans who have sought safety in the country and could be at imminent risk if forced to return,” said Matthew Saltmarsh, UNHCR spokesperson.

“UNHCR appreciates the announcements by Pakistan to exclude registered refugees and other categories of vulnerable Afghans from this exercise,” he said but noted that Afghanistan was going through a severe humanitarian crisis with several human rights challenges, particularly for women and girls.

Pakistan, while responding to UNHCR concerns, said Monday that its deportation plan applies to all illegal foreigners residing in the country, irrespective of their nationality and country of origin.

“The decision is in the exercise of Pakistan’s sovereign domestic laws and compliant with applicable international norms and principles,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zohra Baloch said in a statement. She emphasized again that legally registered Afghan refugees “are beyond the purview of this plan,” and government security agencies are directed to ensure their safety.

“The international community must scale up collective efforts to address protracted refugee situations through advancing durable solutions as a matter of priority. Pakistan will continue to work with our international partners to this end,” Baloch stated.

Pakistani officials defend their crackdown, citing a dramatic surge in deadly attacks in the country they say are being orchestrated by Taliban-allied fugitive militants out of Afghan sanctuaries. Islamabad maintains that Afghan nationals carried out several recent suicide bombings in Pakistan.

Taliban authorities rejected the charges and called on Pakistan to “reconsider its plan” of expelling Afghans. However, they have lately made emergency arrangements on the Afghan side to provide shelter, health care, food and other services to families returning voluntarily or are expected to be forced out of Pakistan after the November 1 deadline.

U.N. officials warn Pakistan’s deportation of “undocumented” foreign nationals risks triggering a human rights catastrophe.

“We are very worried that those who are deported face a whole host of human rights violations, including torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, severe discrimination, and lack of access to basic economic and social needs,” said Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

Shamdasani said women are of particular concern as the de facto Taliban rulers “have attempted to completely erase them from any public presence in society — from the workplace, from schools, from even public parks.”

Lisa Schlein contributed to this report from Geneva.

Pakistan: 200,000 Afghan Nationals Returned Home
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