Pakistan Must Immediately Halt Deportation of Afghan Refugees

Statement by Refugees International Senior Fellow Priyali Dipti Sur and Alumni Fellow and an Afghan Refugee Qiyamud Din Ikram: 

“In recent weeks, Pakistan has escalated its mass forced deportations of Afghan refugees—an illegal and dangerous move at a moment of deep regional instability and the near-total collapse of human rights in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. These expulsions put lives at immediate risk. Pakistan must halt deportations now and restore legal pathways for Afghans seeking safety.

In 2026 alone, more than 146,000 Afghans have already been deported from Pakistan, adding to the more than 1 million forcibly returned in 2025. Since the reopening of the Torkham border on March 31, the government of Pakistan has expedited deportations. 

These deportations are part of the Pakistani government’s “Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan,” launched in October 2023. The deportations are particularly concerning given conditions in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s return to power. Women and girls, human rights defenders, journalists, and anti-regime voices have been subjected to arbitrary arrests, imprisonment, forced disappearances and extra-judicial executions. For many deportees, forced return poses a direct threat to their lives. 

Most Afghan refugees – including those holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards or Afghan Citizen Cards – have resided in Pakistan for generations, never once having stepped foot in Afghanistan. They have spent decades building lives, contributing to local economies, and pursuing education. Forcibly returning them to Afghanistan would uproot them from the only home many have known and sever the community ties and hard-won stability they have built over years 

Refugees International spoke to one woman living in Peshawar whose PoR card was not renewed when it expired in June 2025. She told the team that her previous work as a journalist covering Taliban abuses would mean immediate imprisonment for her if she is forced to return to Afghanistan. She is one of more than 1.3 million Afghan refugees who effectively became undocumented when Pakistan stopped renewing PoR cards last year. This decision, along with a halt in visa renewals, has put close to 2 million Afghans at risk of  deportation.

These forced returns violate the principle of non-refoulement under international law. It is also deeply troubling that these deportations appear linked to a broader deterioration of relations and onset of hostilities between the Pakistani government and the Taliban authorities.

Refugees must not be used as instruments of political pressure. We call on Pakistan to immediately stop forced deportations of Afghan refugees and reinstate legal pathways for Afghans to remain, including renewing visas and PoR cards.” 

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Etant Dupain at edupain@refugeesinternational.org.