KABUL: Abdul Rahman Rashid, the Afghan Taliban’s Minister of Refugees and Repatriation, said on Monday that Iran has deported approximately 345,000 Afghans since the last week of September. The Taliban administration, without providing specific details, announced that returning families have been provided with cash grants and other essential assistance upon return to their homeland.
The Iranian authorities had previously announced to deport Afghans residing in their country without legal authorization.
Meanwhile, officials in Pakistan reported that nearly 490,000 Afghan nationals have voluntarily returned to Afghanistan following the government’s directive to repatriate all illegal foreigners. The illegal foreign nationals included an estimated 1.7 million Afghan nationals, over the past two months.
Repatriation of Illegal Afghans from Pakistan
Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti stated at a news conference in Islamabad that “more than 90%” of undocumented Afghans had either returned voluntarily or were in the process of doing so. The Pakistani government defended its deportation campaign, asserting that it aligns with the country’s immigration laws.
It is important to note that the Pakistani crackdown does not target the approximately 2.3 million documented Afghans, including 1.4 million refugees. Last month, after a four-month delay, Islamabad extended the legal status of 1.4 million Afghan refugees until the end of the year, offering relief to the refugee community.
On the Afghan side of the border, the Taliban administration has set up makeshift camps where returnees can stay while waiting to be transported to their native cities across Afghanistan.
Pakistani authorities argued that anti-state militants, sheltering in Afghanistan, have intensified cross-border terrorist attacks since the Taliban regained control of the country two years ago. Islamabad claims that some illegal Afghan nationals have also played a role in facilitating a deadly wave of terror, including more than a dozen suicide bombings in Pakistan this year.
