Taliban seeks more time for Afghans to leave Pakistan

KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Wednesday urged Pakistan to give undocumented Afghans in the country more time to leave as pressure mounts at border posts swarmed by thousands of returnees fleeing the threat of deportation.

The Pakistani government has given 1.7 million Afghans living illegally in the country until November 1 (today) to leave voluntarily or be forcibly removed.

More than 130,000 people have left Pakistan since the order was given at the start of October, according to border officials in the towns of Torkham and Chaman, creating bottlenecks on either side of the crossings.

In a statement, Taliban authorities thanked Pakistan and other countries that have hosted millions of Afghans who fled their country during decades of conflict, but “asked them to not forcibly deport Afghans with little notice but to give them time to prepare”.

Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban government has urged Afghans to return home, but has also condemned Pakistan’s actions, saying nationals are being punished for tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, and calling for people to be given more time to depart.

Hundreds of thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan faced the threat of detention and deportation on Wednesday, as a government deadline for them to leave sparked a mass exodus.

The government has given 1.7 million Afghans it says are living illegally in the country until November 1 to leave voluntarily or be forcibly repatriated.

Thousands joined a snaking queue that stretched for seven kilometres at the busiest border point on Wednesday, with at least 29,000 people crossing into Afghanistan the day before.

Authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the majority of Afghan migrants live, will launch a widespread operation to arrest undocumented families who refuse to leave, Feroz Jamal, a spokesman for the provincial government, told AFP.

Forty-nine holding centres, some capable of holding several thousand people, were set to open across the country on Wednesday to process and deport Afghans, state media said.