Pakistan’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq, has revealed that despite over 800,000 Afghans fleeing to Pakistan after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, only 86,000 have been successfully resettled by the international community.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Sadiq highlighted ongoing discussions with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) regarding Pakistan’s efforts to manage the Afghan migrant crisis. He pointed out that both Pakistan and Iran have ramped up the deportation of Afghan nationals, with an estimated two million Afghans being expelled over the past year alone.
Refugee advocacy groups continue to sound the alarm, warning that deported Afghans are at significant risk of persecution under Taliban rule. Meanwhile, Western nations, particularly those involved in resettling Afghan refugees, have faced significant delays. Germany, for example, paused its Afghan resettlement program until a new Afghan government is established.
As deportations from neighbouring countries intensify, the United Nations and Taliban authorities have urged for a halt to the forced returns, but their calls have gone largely unheeded. The growing crisis underscores the urgent need for a comprehensive international response to the Afghan refugee situation.
