Pakistan Plans to Deport Nearly 20,000 Afghan Nationals Awaiting US Resettlement
Pakistani media have reported that the government plans to deport thousands of Afghan nationals currently awaiting resettlement in the United States back to Afghanistan.
The Nation newspaper reported on Monday, February 8, that under this plan, approximately 19,973 Afghan nationals will be subjected to deportation. These individuals include those whose cases for transfer to the US are either ongoing or pending.
According to the report, the federal government of Pakistan intends to issue formal directives through official correspondence to senior provincial ministers and police chiefs in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, as well as the Commissioner of Islamabad Capital Territory to implement this process.
Furthermore, the complete lists and detailed information of all these Afghan nationals will be provided to the mentioned security and administrative authorities to coordinate their identification and deportation.
However, the Pakistani government has not officially commented on these reports. This uncertainty persists amid thousands of Afghan nationals living in Pakistan who remain in a precarious situation due to unclear security and legal conditions.
Meanwhile, a recent decision by US President Donald Trump to cancel resettlement requests of holders of P1 and P2 cases has heightened concerns among these refugees, posing significant challenges to their future.
