Pakistan sees exodus of 200,000 Afghans since crackdown began

ISLAMABAD: More than 200,000 Afghans have left Pakistan since the government renewed a deportation drive in April, with Iran also stepping up expulsions of Afghans.

Generations of Afghans have fled to neighbouring Pakistan and Iran during decades of successive wars, seeking safety and better economic opportunities.

Both governments have grown weary of large migrant populations and ordered millions to leave under the threat of arrest.

Pakistan has launched a strict campaign to evict more than 800,000 Afghans who have had their residence permits cancelled, including some who were born in the country or lived there for decades.

According to the interior ministry, more than 135,000 Afghans left Pakistan in April, while around 67,000 departed in May and more than 3,000 were sent back in the first two days of June.

The UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday voiced concern over a surge in Afghan families being deported from Iran, recording 15,675 crossing in May, a more than two-fold increase from the previous month. Iranian officials have ordered Afghans without documentation to leave by July 6.

Nader Yarahmadi, from the Iranian interior ministry, said on state television that it would affect around four million of the more than six million Afghans who Iran says are in the country.

The IOM said the influx across both borders threatens to strain Afghanistan’s already “fragile reception and reintegration systems”.

It again called for “all countries to immediately suspend the forced return of Afghans, regardless of their immigration status, until safe, voluntary, and dignified return conditions are in place”.

Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan over the past several decades, fleeing successive wars, as well as hundreds of thousands who arrived after the return of the Taliban government in 2021.

A campaign to evict them began in 2023, prompting hundreds of thousands to cross the border in a matter of weeks, fearing harassment or arrest. In total, more than one million Afghans have left Pakistan.