As geopolitical tensions boil over between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban, a generation of Afghans who have known no home but Pakistan are being scapegoated and forcibly expelled into a humanitarian catastrophe.
LAHORE, Pakistan – Salman stares at the grimy walls of the detention center, a profound sense of betrayal etched on his 22-year-old face. He is being forcibly returned to Afghanistan, a country he has never seen.
Born and raised in Pakistan after his parents fled decades of conflict, Salman is now caught in the crossfire of a disintegrating relationship between Islamabad and the Taliban government in Kabul. His crime? Being Afghan in a country that has suddenly decided he is a threat.
“I have lived in Pakistan all this time, but it’s given me nothing but this,” he told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, gesturing to the squalid surroundings. Earlier this month, police in Lahore arrested him during a random search. “I was not provided food during those two nights in a dark police cell,” he recounted. Now, he awaits a one-way trip to a homeland that exists only in his family’s stories, some 600 kilometers away.
Salman is one of tens of thousands of Afghans being involuntarily repatriated each week as Pakistan executes a massive campaign to expel all undocumented Afghan refugees and migrants. This policy, justified by Islamabad on security grounds, has unleashed a wave of fear and abuse, tearing apart communities and creating a desperate humanitarian crisis in an Afghanistan already on its knees.
The Geopolitical Fault Line
The mass deportations are the most visible symptom of a deep and bitter rift between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.
Senior Pakistani officials have publicly blamed Afghans for participating in recent attacks on Pakistani security forces. The core of Islamabad’s grievance is the Taliban’s perceived support for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban but focused on overthrowing the Pakistani state.
A fragile cease-fire between Pakistan and the TTP has collapsed, and border tensions have escalated dramatically. In November, the Taliban government accused Pakistan of conducting deadly airstrikes on its territory, bringing the two erstwhile allies to the brink of open conflict.
In this charged atmosphere, Afghan refugees have become political pawns. “The brave people of Pakistan, who have lost loved ones in the war against terrorism, now ask: How long will the government continue to bear the burden of Afghan refugees?” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked last month, framing the expulsion as a matter of national security.
A Life Uprooted: Harassment and Theft
For the estimated 1.7 million Afghans who have fled to Pakistan in various waves since the 1979 Soviet invasion, this rhetoric translates into daily terror. Many have built lives over decades, raising children, establishing businesses, and working in manual labor jobs often shunned by locals.
Now, they report systematic harassment and abuse by Pakistani authorities, particularly the police.
Jaffar Shah, another detainee in Lahore, describes a pattern of targeted persecution. “Nobody is speaking up against this country’s cruel policies,” he said. “The police seek out vulnerable Afghans—laborers, street vendors—harass them, rob them of their money and belongings during detention, and then force them back to a country they fled.”
These accounts are widespread. Deported families speak of being rounded up, beaten, and forced onto trucks, forced to abandon their homes, life savings, and belongings. The policy has created a climate of impunity where extortion and theft of Afghan property have become commonplace.
A Humanitarian Catastrophe Unfolds
The human tide flowing back into Afghanistan is overwhelming the country’s crippled infrastructure and economy. The UN estimates that over 1.7 million Afghans have returned from Pakistan since the expulsion drive began, many arriving with little more than the clothes on their backs.
They are returning to a nation grappling with a collapsed economy, a dire food shortage, and a Taliban administration struggling to provide basic services. With winter tightening its grip, the situation has become a life-or-death emergency. Families are sheltering in makeshift camps without adequate food, heating, or medical care, exposed to the harsh elements.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has called for an immediate halt to the forcible returns, warning that those sent back face “risk of persecution, arbitrary detention, or torture.” This is especially true for the estimated 600,000 who fled after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, including former government officials, security forces, and activists.
A Legal Vacuum and a Mother’s Plea
Pakistan’s ability to carry out these expulsions with such speed stems from a critical legal gap: the country has never signed the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. This allows successive governments to deny Afghans legal rights, protection, or any pathway to citizenship, rendering them perpetually temporary and ultimately, expendable.
The desperation is palpable in the voices of those detained. “We were beaten and forced into trucks,” Maryam, a young Afghan mother, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi from a detention center in Islamabad. “There are pregnant women and newborns among those detained here.”
This week, Pakistani authorities cleared a protest camp in an Islamabad park, rounding up Maryam and some 300 Afghan families who had been demonstrating for months against their deportation. Their peaceful resistance was met with force, underscoring the government’s determination to proceed.
“Lately Pakistan has been arresting, humiliating, and treating Afghans inhumanely, which is not acceptable under international norms and laws,” said Fahim Farwak, an Afghan rights activist.
As Salman waits in his Lahore cell, his hope has curdled into a bitter warning. His life in Pakistan, the only one he has ever known, has ended in a detention center. “My advice to all Afghans will be to never go to Pakistan,” he said, “because they will get nothing here.” His words stand as a stark epitaph for a decades-long refugee saga that has ended not in integration or return, but in rejection and despair.
Source: RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal and RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
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