IOM reports says 60,000 Afghans return from Pakistan

KABUL: The International Organization for Migration reported on Tuesday that Pakistan has forced nearly 60,000 Afghans to leave since April, following Islamabad’s intensified campaign to deport migrants to Afghanistan.

Last month, the federal government set an early April deadline for about 800,000 Afghans holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) issued by Pakistani authorities to leave the country, marking the second phase of efforts to expel Afghans.

“Between 1 and 13 April 2025, IOM recorded a sharp rise in forced returns, with nearly 60,000 individuals crossing back into Afghanistan through the Torkham and Spin Boldak border points,” the UN agency said in a statement.

Families, carrying their belongings, have crowded the crossings at Torkham in the north and Spin Boldak in the south, reminiscent of the scenes in 2023 when tens of thousands of Afghans fled deportation threats from Pakistan.

“With a new wave of large-scale returns now underway from Pakistan, needs on the ground are rising rapidly — both at the border and in areas of return that are struggling to absorb large numbers of returnees,” said Mihyung Park, head of the IOM’s Afghanistan mission.

The UN reports that nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan, many of whom have resided there for decades after fleeing successive conflicts in their country, especially following the Taliban’s return to power in Kabul in 2021.

The authorities have also instructed more than 1.3 million Afghans, who hold Proof of Registration cards from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), to move out of the capital, Islamabad, and the neighboring city of Rawalpindi.

The Taliban authorities have repeatedly urged Afghans to be allowed to return to Afghanistan in a “dignified” manner.

As Afghans began streaming over the border in large numbers again, the Taliban Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation stated, “The mistreatment of Afghans by neighboring countries is unacceptable and intolerable.”

Halt the forced returns:

Ties between the two countries have frayed since the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Islamabad has accused Kabul’s rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government denies. Meanwhile, Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in its border regions with Afghanistan.

State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry said last week that Islamabad was “taking these steps because it links Afghans to terrorist and narcotics activities.”

He added that Afghans waiting in Pakistan for visas to a third country “would be catered to on a case-by-case basis”. But, he added, “there will be no extension for anyone after April 30”.

The IOM urged “all countries to immediately halt the forced returns of Afghans until conditions are in place to ensure safe, dignified, and voluntary returns, regardless of a person’s legal status”.

The agency reported that between September 2023 and April this year, more than 2.43 million undocumented Afghan migrants returned from Pakistan and Iran, with over half of them being forcibly returned.