Thousands of Afghans have crossed the border of Pakistan in recent days, said the United Nations and Taliban officials, while Islamabad has increased pressure to return to their country of origin.
Pakistan last month has established a deadline at the start of April for some 800,000 Afghans with Afghan citizen cards (ACC) published by the Pakistani authorities to leave the country, another phase of the Islamabad campaign in recent years to withdraw Afghans from the country.
Families with their trailer goods have lined up the main border crossings of Torkham to the north and turn Boldak to the south, recalling similar scenes in 2023 when tens of thousands of Afghans fled threats to deportation to Pakistan.
“In the past 2 days, 8,025 undocumented holders and ACC have returned via Torkham & Spin Boldak Crossings,” the International Organization for United Nations (IOM) said in an article on the X social media platform on Monday.
Taliban officials also said that thousands of people had crossed the border, but at lower rates than IOM.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Refugees, Abdul Mutalib Haqqani, said AFP This 6,000 to 7,000 Afghans had returned since the beginning of April, warning that the number could increase in the coming days after the end of the holidays marking the end of Ramadan.
“We urge the Pakistani authorities not to expel them (Afghans) with force-there should be an appropriate mechanism with an agreement between the two countries, and they must be returned with dignity,” he said.
The UN says that nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan, many of whom have fled there for decades of war in their country and after the return of the Taliban in power to Kabul in 2021.
The links between neighboring countries have been crashed since the Taliban takeover, Pakistan accusing Kabul leaders not to eliminate activists sheltering on Afghan soil, an accusation that the Taliban government denies.
