Pakistan is turning over every stone as it continues its push to deport over 1 million undocumented Afghan migrants, and in the process expelling those who have been flagged for protection.
Several migrants in Pakistan have reported cases to RFE/RL's Radio Azadi in which they or other Afghans who possess referrals by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) documenting their vulnerable situation or are in the U.S. refugee admissions program are nevertheless being harassed or deported.
Some have said that they were in possession of letters from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad identifying them as individuals who are being considered for resettlement in the United States. The letters, given to thousands of Afghans, were intended to shield them from deportation while their priority U.S. visa cases were pending. But they say that Pakistani authorities are refusing to recognize the letters as valid.
The development is an extension of the dire situation that hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees have found themselves in as Islamabad makes good on its promise to rid the country of an estimated 1.7 million undocumented Afghan migrants and refugees.
'Police Arrested Him'
In the case of those possessing the U.S. letters, Afghans have been referred for a priority U.S. immigration program due to the assistance they provided during the nearly 20-year U.S.-led war in Afghanistan that ended in 2021.
Already left in limbo more than two years after the Taliban's return to power due to a lengthy and complicated bureaucratic process for resettlement, they are now exposed to possible retribution should they be forced to return to their homeland.
Sara, who spoke to Radio Azadi on condition that only her first name be used, said she and her husband's temporary visas to live in Pakistan have expired, but that they hold documents showing they have been registered as refugees by the UNHCR and are being considered for immigration to the United States under its Priority-2 program.
Afghan citizens are seen during a protest in Islamabad in February in which they asked the United States of to speed up the processing of their asylum cases.
The P-2 program, one of a handful of routes available to Afghans who seek to immigrate to the United States, was set up just before the Taliban takeover to accommodate those of special concern to the U.S. government due to their circumstances and need for resettlement.
Among those eligible for referral to the P-2 program are interpreters and translators for the U.S. military, Afghans who worked for U.S. government-funded or supported projects, and Afghans who worked with U.S.-based media organizations following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Sara's husband, she told Radio Azadi, was arrested in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar as the government made good on its promises to round up undocumented Afghans beginning at the start of November, and she and her husband were told they would be deported.
"He has both a passport and case number [with the UNHCR], only his visa has expired," Sara said. "He was arrested by the police while at work in the Peshawar region and told that this American letter and refugee status were not acceptable."
Ahmad Wali, another Afghan living in Peshawar who said he is in the P-2 program, told Radio Azadi that he fears deportation after seeing his document-holding neighbor arrested and sent back to Afghanistan.
"Our neighbor, whose name is Abdul Hamid, had a P-2 file, a letter from the [U.S.] Embassy with him, and a passport, but since his [Pakistani] visa had expired, the police arrested him," Wali said.
Similar stories have been documented by lawyers representing Afghans in Pakistan and by other U.S.-letter bearing individuals who spoke to Radio Azadi.
Arduous Path To Resettlement
The issue has raised concerns in Washington, which as of November 20 had accepted more than 19,000 Afghan P-2 referrals for processing, a U.S. State Department spokesperson told RFE/RL in written comments.
The spokesperson confirmed that the U.S. government had sent letters to "individuals with an immigration pathway to the United States that they can share with local authorities to help identify them as individuals in a U.S. pipeline."
Among those eligible for referral to the P-2 program are interpreters and translators for the U.S. military, such as this Afghan translator seen during a training program with U.S. Marines in Afghanistan in 2010.
In addition, the spokesperson said, Washington "shared a list with the government of Pakistan of Afghan individuals in U.S. resettlement pipelines."
That list is reportedly a bone of contention in Islamabad, a senior Interior Ministry official told the Dawn newspaper last month, shortly after the authorities in Pakistan began rounding up undocumented Afghans who had not heeded the country's previous warning to leave by November 1.
The official told Dawn that that the two sides had no official agreement or understanding regarding the U.S. Embassy letters, and that the list had no legal value.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry did not respond to queries from RFE/RL asking for official comment on its position regarding the U.S. Embassy letters, or whether local authorities might be going against Islamabad's position by refusing to accept them as valid.
'Temporary' Life In Limbo
After the Taliban seized power in Kabul in August 2021, hundreds of thousands of Afghans fled the country, many out of fear of retribution for their ethnicity, religious beliefs, or work with foreigners. Pakistan, which over decades of war and political upheaval in Afghanistan has become a refuge for millions of Afghans, was an obvious immediate destination.
An estimated 700,000 crossed the border into Pakistan, pushing the number of Afghans living there legally or illegally to some 3.7 million people, according to the United Nations. Pakistan has estimated that number to be as high as 4.4 million.
WATCH: Thousands of Afghans forced to return to Afghanistan after a crackdown in neighboring Pakistan say they now face life in makeshift camps without proper sanitation or water.
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Afghan Returnees Describe Dire Conditions In Their Homeland
Most of the new arrivals saw their stay in Pakistan as a temporary measure as they made their way to their desired third-country destinations. But many were caught in limbo.
The new arrivals often lacked official documents that they had no chance of obtaining, with Afghanistan in chaos and no official representative offices in Pakistan. That, in turn, hindered their ability to navigate the red tape needed to gain official refugee status, obtain visas to live legally in Pakistan, or to apply for resettlement in third countries.
Pakistani officials have said that only about 1.4 million Afghans hold the necessary documentation allowing them to remain in Pakistan legally.
Since Islamabad issued its warning in October that undocumented individuals leave voluntarily by November 1 or face arrest and deportation, more than 400,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan, where about 90 percent are now homeless.
While the Pakistani government has said it would not deport Afghans being processed for U.S. visas, Washington has expressed its desire to ensure the safety of individuals in its visa pipeline and has called on Islamabad to ensure its obligations in the treatment of all refugees and asylum seekers.
On December 4, a delegation led by Julieta Valls Noyes, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for population, refugees, and migration, arrived in Islamabad to discuss ways of supporting and resettling vulnerable Afghans with senior Pakistani government officials and international organizations.
Following the meetings, a Pakistani official close to the talks told Voice of America on condition of anonymity on December 5 that the Pakistani side expressed concerns over the lengthy resettlement process Washington has adopted, while the U.S. delegation requested that Islamabad slow its roundup and deportation of undocumented migrants during the harsh winter months.
A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said that in the course of the delegation's visit, which ended on December 6, Noyes met directly with Afghan refugees to hear their concerns and in her meetings with Pakistani officials "discussed how both countries can work together to accelerate the processing of Afghan nationals eligible for relocation or resettlement in the United States."