Squeezed on all sides

T

he young mother of three was in visible distress. After months of waiting, she and her family had finally been told to undergo medical examinations, which they all passed. That meant they were close to leaving Pakistan, their temporary home, to begin anew in the United States.

But that may not be happening anytime soon, although the woman and her family may still end up leaving Islamabad, where they have tried to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible in the last few years. Instead of the United States, they could be forced to return to Afghanistan, which they had fled after the Taliban retook power in August 2021. 

“We were set to fly to a new life,” said the young woman, who was a government worker in her homeland. “But then calamity happened. President Trump’s suspension of the resettlement program shattered our hopes, leaving us feeling defeated and hopeless.”

She and her children are among the nearly 1,660 Afghan refugees in Pakistan who had been cleared for resettlement in the United States, but have had their flights canceled as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s suspension of U.S. refugee programs.

Recent media reports have also broached the possibility that nationals of Afghanistan and Pakistan may be covered by an upcoming travel ban by the Trump government, spelling more possible trouble for refugees who had hoped to resettle in the United States. 

According to some estimates, some 20,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan had been waiting for their papers to be approved for U.S. resettlement.

Meanwhile, Pakistan authorities say that Afghan refugees seeking relocation programs or resettlement letters can stay in the country only until June 30. After that, they will be deported to Afghanistan.

“Pakistan has given enough facilitations to these Afghans as a transit country,” said Muhammad Abbas Khan, chief commissioner for Afghan refugees at the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions. “We even hosted them without visa and documents.”

“Since the United States refuses to accept these refugees,” he added, “Pakistan will deport them after the deadline. If they are not resettled in the United States or another country, Pakistan will follow the same approach for everyone and deport them to Afghanistan.”

A retaliatory move?

This isn’t the first time Pakistan has implemented regulations aimed at pushing out Afghan refugees. In October 2023, the government announced the “Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan,” which resulted in the return of almost 783,000 Afghan refugees to Afghanistan. 

The plan’s second phase, announced in April 2024, aimed to deport Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, but its implementation remains incomplete.

Authorities are pushing even harder, though, partly because of Pakistan’s mounting economic woes. But observers say that attacks by what authorities believe are extremists supported by the Taliban in Kabul have been a major factor in the move to deport as many Afghans as possible. 

Just this March, yet another attack – on a security compound in the border province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – killed 12.

The Taliban has denied any involvement with the attacks in Pakistan, which have ramped up in recent years. Islamabad, however, now apparently considers Afghans in Pakistan as security threats. 

Since the start of this year, Afghan nationals in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have been arrested at an alarming rate, generating rising concern within the refugee community.

According to reports, Afghan citizens with varied documentation statuses have been picked up, leading to the expulsion of over 800 people, including women and children, from Pakistan’s capital region in the first two months of 2025. 

UNHCR spokesperson Quaiser Afridi said that around 100 of the Afghans who were recently deported had UNHCR documents – which among other things are supposed to protect them from refoulement. “Our facilitators in Afghanistan are working to support them, and we are negotiating with Pakistan to provide assistance, as they have done for over 40 years,” he said.

Afridi emphasized the vulnerability of these individuals, among them journalists, activists, religious minorities, and musicians, who are unable to return to Afghanistan or relocate from Pakistan.

Now even those already set for resettlement in other countries could be sent back to Afghanistan. Lawyer Muniza Kakar pointed out, “Those Afghan refugees who have come after the Taliban takeover (in 2021) are those whose lives are in danger, and deporting them forcibly is a violation of human rights.”

A member of the collective Joint Action Committee for Refugees (JAC-R), she highlighted specifically the plight of Afghan refugees who had worked with the U.S. forces and who are now facing rejection from both the United States and Pakistan.

A 2023 U.N. report in fact details how the Taliban have targeted former government officials and those Kabul believes were part of the security forces, leading to several cases of torture, forced disappearances, and outright killings.

“Those who were going to the United States are those who have worked with them,” Kakar said. “And now if they are not accepting them and Pakistan is not accepting them too, it’s a huge threat to their life.”

“It’s the responsibility of the U.S. to take care of those who used to work with them,” she said.

Kakar said that the situation is particularly dire for Afghan women refugees, many of whom have been approaching her for help, desperate to escape the hardships and danger that await them in Afghanistan. Under the Taliban, rules restricting women include not being allowed to attend secondary school and beyond; women are also forbidden to be heard or to sing in public. 

Remarked Kakar: “They don’t want to go back to Afghanistan or will rather do suicide because going to Afghanistan is the same.” 

Shrinking welcome – and funds

In truth, many of them would rather not stay in Pakistan either. A non-signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Pakistan has been a grudging host to refugees from its next-door neighbor, who have been crossing the border in periodic waves since the late 1970s, initially to escape armed conflict and later the repressive Taliban rule.

Support from the United Nations have made it possible for Afghan refugees to stay in Pakistan, but their host country has repeatedly made it clear that it would rather they sought refuge somewhere else. If not for the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and nongovernment organizations receiving U.S. aid, surviving in Pakistan would be nearly impossible for Afghan refugees.

“Life as a refugee in Pakistan is an ongoing struggle,” said the young mother whose U.S. resettlement has been put on hold. “From crippling living expenditures to the continual assault of harsh policies, it’s a wonder anyone can find the courage to keep on.”

Now the UNHCR itself says that the suspension of U.S. aid funds since January has decreased the access of the refugees to essential facilities such as healthcare and education. 

A former employee of a recently shut education project that was an initiative of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Migration, and Refugees recounted, “Aside from losing my and several other colleagues’ jobs, we had over 1,600 (Afghan) students enrolled in the accelerated learning program.

Now, students and faculty – particularly Afghan faculty – are contacting us to urge us not to abandon this project because it was the only hope they had, and they had built many dreams that will be crushed. However, we are also powerless in this position.”

It is likely, though, that even those students and their parents have gone into hiding after Pakistan intensified its crackdown on Afghan refugees.

Mahdi, his wife, and their three children thought they were relatively safe from deportation after registering with the UNHCR. But then the Pakistani police came to their house and arrested his wife, and took his children from school. Mahdi was spared only because he was not home at the time; his family, however, have since been deported to Afghanistan.

“My wife is now in Kabul, and it’s very difficult for us,” Mahdi added, his voice full of worry. “As a lone woman in Afghanistan, she is unsafe. I’m torn about what to do because, on the one hand, my wife is unable to get here, and on the other, I am unable to return to Afghanistan due to death threats.” 

He said that his wife has urged him not to return to Afghanistan owing to such threats.

Deport first, sign later

Commissioner Khan explained Pakistan’s stance this way: “The problem in Pakistan is that we already have 3 to 4 million Afghan residents living here. We don’t have sufficient border rules, so the moment we sign the Convention, people from Afghanistan will begin to arrive, putting us under a severe burden.”

“Right now,” he continued, “there is no plan of signing the Refugee Convention, and we have reservations. As we know, when you accept refugees, you must process them in accordance with the agreement.”

According to Khan, Pakistan will consider signing the Convention only after all Afghan citizens have returned home and the borders have been properly protected.

 “Likewise, for a national refugee law, we have the same stance, to send back all Afghans and then develop a national refugee law,” he said. “But even without it, Pakistan continues to support millions of Afghans. Pakistan is already doing a lot.”

Refugees and their supporters obviously wish it would do less deportation. Rahil Talash, a women’s rights activist from Afghanistan’s Hazara community, feels her pile of worries growing more and more as days pass. “The only benefit is that I am living in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, which is relatively safer,” she said. But recent developments have made it clear that Pakistani authorities want Afghans out of Islamabad, leaving Talash feeling desperate and uncertain. 

If the situation worsens, she said, she may go to Attock in Punjab province or farther away in Quetta in Balochistan. Talash is aware that just like in Afghanistan, Hazaras suffer from discrimination in Pakistan. But she said that returning to Afghanistan is not an option. 

“I cannot go back to Afghanistan because we protested against the Taliban, and they will put me in jail.” Talash said. “Going back is like inviting imprisonment.” ◉