Afghans Scramble To Return Home Ahead Of Pakistan's Deportation Deadline

Afghan refugees arrive in trucks from Pakistan at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border at Torkham on October 31.

Islamabad has resorted to threats and abuse to compel the estimated 1.7 million illegal Afghan immigrants to leave the country ahead of a November 1 deadline, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

Afghan refugees wait to board trucks at the border crossing at Torkham.

"Pakistan's announced deadline for Afghans to return has led to detentions, beatings, and extortion, leaving thousands of Afghans in fear over their future," said Fereshta Abbasi, HRW's Afghanistan researcher.

Afghan refugees arrive in Torkham.

"The situation in Afghanistan remains dangerous for many who fled, and deportation will expose them to significant security risks, including threats to their lives and well-being," Abbasi said.

The winding road leading to the Torkham border crossing.

HRW also says that many Afghans at risk of being deported are awaiting resettlement to the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada. 

A young girl looks out from the back of a cargo container.

On October 3, the Pakistani Interior Ministry announced that all undocumented immigrants in Pakistan had to leave the country within 28 days. As of October 27, about 60,000 Afghans had left Pakistan, the United Nations reported. Many of them cited a fear of arrest in Pakistan as the main reason for going back.

Afghans wait to cross the border.

HRW said the deportations "violate Pakistan's obligations as a party to the UN Convention Against Torture and under the customary international law principle of nonrefoulment -- not to forcibly return people to countries where they face a clear risk of torture or other persecution," HRW wrote.

Afghan families crowd atop a truck before journeying into Afghanistan just hours before the expiration of the deadline.

Another truck heading for Afghanistan

The expulsion campaign has drawn widespread criticism from UN agencies, rights groups, and the Taliban-led administration in Afghanistan. With millions of Afghans already living with food insecurity, the country's already dire humanitarian situation may worsen with the arrival of impoverished Afghans from Pakistan.

Afghans wait patiently for their journey to start at the Torkham border.

The Chaman border crossing, situated nearly 120 kilometers to the northwest of Pakistan's provincial capital, Quetta, was also backed up with trucks and buses carrying Afghans forced to return to Afghanistan.

Afghans wait near trucks that will ferry them across the Chaman border crossing.

Pakistani officials said the Torkham and Chaman border crossings with Afghanistan will remain open beyond their daily 4 p.m. closure to allow for those who have arrived there to leave the country.

Young boys sit atop a truck that will carry them across the border at Chaman.

Since ousting the Western-backed Afghan government and taking over the country in August 2021, the Taliban has placed restrictions on women's appearance, freedom of movement, right to work and study, and access to society. Restrictions have also been placed on the media, activists, and civil society organizations.