Torkham Gate area on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, a major crossing point and the location of Pakistan deportation efforts. Most Afghans holding a Pakistani visa are required to cross the border every 30 to 60 days to get their visa stamped. It is a dangerous and harrowing trip.
“One of the reasons for the detention and deportation of these migrants is their link to security issues in the country. We are witnessing the security incidents and attacks that are taking place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan.”
The rise of Taliban-fueled terrorism in Pakistan threatens former U.S. and NATO allies hiding out in Islamabad awaiting relocation to the United States and other western destinations. According to the excerpted news clip from U.S.-funded VOA Dari on its Facebook page, “there are now massive arrests and operations in Islamabad” against Afghans living in the Pakistani capital. The crackdown comes amidst increasing terrorist activity from Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan, i.e., the Pakistani Taliban. According to the VOA Dari news clip, the primary reason for the detention and deportation of these migrants is Pakistan’s belief that the terrorism taking place in Pakistan is in part fueled or supported by Afghan refugees living in Pakistan.
The second clip, from Afghanistan International, also noted that Pakistani police were sweeping through neighborhoods detaining Afghans, and that in the past ten days, many Afghans have committed suicide rather than return to Afghanistan. The clip also noted that 400 Afghans were rounded up, including former journalists, civil society employees, and former military and security personnel, all of whom cannot return to Afghanistan for fear of imprisonment, torture, and death at the hands of the Taliban government.[i]
Former Afghan military personnel hiding out in Pakistan awaiting visas to the United States and other western countries corroborate the sweeps taking place throughout Islamabad. Many leave their temporary homes for days at a time waiting for the police to finish detention operations in their neighborhood.[ii] It is a perilous but necessary game of cat and mouse. U.S. visa applicants need to be near a U.S. consulate to process their visa. Also, an active Pakistan visa, which offers some protection from deportation, is harder and harder to get. Pakistan visas for Afghans have been substantially shortened and become more expensive, making it nearly impossible for former Afghan military and political individuals and their families to stay in Pakistan without a foreign donor.
Sources:
”پاکستان جمع آوری و اخراج مهاجران افغان فاقد مدرک را تشدید کرده است
(Pakistan steps up collection and deportation of undocumented Afghan migrants),” VOA Dari, 5 January 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5_3InKmidg
There are now massive arrests and operations in Islamabad. Afghan harassment in different parts of Islamabad has accelerated in the past week, with a large number of Afghans complaining about this problem. Even today, we have had hourly videos and messages from Afghans saying that police are going from house to house at their workplaces and where they live. They arrest Afghans who are documented or undocumented, including women and children.
They were in Pakistan and cannot return to Afghanistan.
One of the reasons for the detention and deportation of these migrants is their link to security issues in the country. We are witnessing the security incidents and attacks that are taking place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan.
بازرسی خانهبهخانه برای بازداشت مهاجران افغان در اسلامآباد پاکستان”
(House-to-house search to arrest Afghan migrants in Islamabad, Pakistan),” Afghanistan International, 5 January 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPaijVV8eXM
Today, throughout Islamabad, the police are collecting [Afghan] refugees and not allowing anyone to remain.
In the past ten days, many people have taken their own lives. They are facing a very new problem. Their lives are in danger. And God forbid, this will not happen. I hope that these people who are trying to detain around 600-700 people in the city today.
They will transfer them to Afghanistan. I think that in the city where we live, around 400 people were taken. These were journalists, Afghans who served in civil society, from the military, they took everyone.
Notes:
[i] The United Nations published a report confirming 218 extrajudicial killings in the summer of 2023. See: “Afghanistan’s Taliban responsible for revenge killings, torture of former officials,” UN News, 22 August 2023. https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/08/1139962; However, Afghans continue to post across various social media and messaging platforms, what is effectively a body count of former military and political officials killed or “disappeared” by the Taliban.
[ii] Author’s conversations with many former ANASOC personnel currently residing in Pakistan.
Image Information:
Image: Torkham Gate area on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, a major crossing point and the location of Pakistan deportation efforts. Most Afghans holding a Pakistani visa are required to cross the border every 30 to 60 days to get their visa stamped. It is a dangerous and harrowing trip.
Source: Global QRF on Instagram; https://www.instagram.com/p/DFaxW6vP5zj/?next=%2F
Attribution: By permission of Global QRF