More than 450,000 Afghans have left the country since Pakistani authorities launched a deportation drive in October.
Islamabad, Pakistan – The Pakistani government has announced that undocumented Afghans awaiting paperwork to resettle to a third country will be allowed to stay in Pakistan for another two months.
The extension of the deadline on Wednesday from the end of this year to February 29 comes amid Pakistan’s attempt to deport more than a million foreigners living in the country without papers.
According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), more than 450,000 people have returned to neighboring Afghanistan since the deportation campaign began in early October. Ninety percent of them did so “voluntarily,” the Pakistani government said, but the UNHCR says they cited fear of arrest as the main reason for their decision to leave.
Announcing the extension, Interim Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said anyone who misses the new deadline will be fined $100 per month, with a maximum of $800.
“These measures were intended to encourage Afghans illegally staying in Pakistan to obtain legal documents or finalize evacuation agreements in a third country as soon as possible,” Solangi added.
The announcement followed a visit to Pakistan by US State Department officials to discuss the Afghan refugee issue. It is estimated that nearly 25,000 Afghans require paperwork for resettlement in the United States.
Pakistan estimates that more than 1.7 million Afghan nationals have lived in the country for long periods without papers, with the majority arriving in waves since the Soviet invasion in 1979.
The last major influx of an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people occurred two years ago, after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
Pakistani authorities have cited a dramatic increase in violence this year for the deportation drive – there have been more than 600 attacks in the first eleven months of 2023.
Interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said in October that 14 of the 24 suicide bombings in the country during that period were carried out by Afghan nationals. He hasn’t provided any evidence.
The Taliban have denied allegations of harboring fighters and have maintained their position that Afghan soil is not used for cross-border violence.