Amid Pakistan’s deportation orders, Afghanistan faces its economic hardship, cut off from the international banking system and heavily reliant on humanitarian aid, especially as the bitter cold winter months approach.
Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, relations have soured between the two countries, leading to hundreds of thousands of Afghans crossing the border into Pakistan. The deportations, according to Pakistan, are aimed at safeguarding the country’s welfare and security.
Fear of arrest and deportation looms over Afghans, even those who consider themselves Pakistani due to their long stay in the country. They are allowed to cross the border with limited belongings and 50,000 Pakistani rupees, leaving their livestock behind.
“I was expecting Pakistan to give us nationality, but that did not happen, compelling us to go back almost empty-handed,” said Bibi.
Police have already begun detaining Afghans, with indiscriminate arrests and extortion reported by lawyers. Many, like Zulfiqar Khan, born to refugee parents, hoped for Pakistani nationality but have decided to leave to avoid humiliation.
Hundreds of families are crowded at the border post, some hoping to take live chickens with them. Border officials report difficulties, particularly for pregnant women and people with disabilities.
More than 2,000 people are being processed each day, although most are laborers and traders who cross frequently back and forth. About 60,000 Afghans have “voluntarily” left recently. According to the United Nations, 1.3 million Afghans are registered refugees, 880,000 have legal status, and Pakistan claims 1.7 million Afghans are residing illegally.
Maroza Bibi and her children, among hundreds of Afghans at the Pakistani border, are leaving their decades-long home in fear of arrest as Islamabad orders 1.7 million Afghans to depart by November 1 or face deportation. Rights groups and lawyers decry this as an unprecedented crackdown.