In Pictures

Settled Afghans forced to flee Pakistan

Pakistan says deportation order meant to protect country’s ‘welfare and security’, but Afghan embassy decries move as ‘harassment’.

Afghan refugees wait at the Karachi bus terminal in Sindh province, to depart for Afghanistan — Afghan refugees wait at the Karachi bus terminal in Sindh province to depart for Afghanistan. [Rizwan Tabassum/AFP]

Pakistan has ordered 1.7 million Afghans it says are living in the country irregularly to leave by November 1 or be deported.

A series of holding centres are being established across the country in preparation for the deadline on Wednesday, in what rights groups and lawyers say is an unprecedented crackdown.

Millions of Afghans have crossed the border during decades of conflict, making Pakistan the host of one of the world’s largest refugee populations.

But relations have steadily soured between the two neighbours since the Taliban government seized power in August 2021.

Hundreds of thousands of Afghans are estimated to have crossed the border since then.

Pakistan has said the deportations are to protect the “welfare and security” of the country, where anti-Afghan sentiment has been growing amid prolonged economic hardship and a rise in cross-border fighting.

The Afghan embassy in Islamabad has branded Pakistan’s decision as “harassment”.

Afghan refugees arrive at the Karachi bus terminal in Sindh province, to depart for Afghanistan — Some 1.3 million Afghans are registered refugees, and 880,000 more have legal status to remain in Pakistan, according to the United Nations. [Rizwan Tabassum/AFP]

Afghan refugees depart for Afghanistan from the Karachi bus terminal — The Pakistani government says a further 1.7 million Afghans are living in Pakistan irregularly. [Rizwan Tabassum/AFP]

Afghan refugees arrive in trucks from Pakistan at the Afghanistan-Pakistan Torkham border in Nangarhar province — Afghan refugees arrive in trucks from Pakistan at the Afghanistan-Pakistan Torkham border in Nangarhar, Afghanistan. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]