KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – More than 170 Afghan nationals have been released from prisons in Pakistan and repatriated to Afghanistan, the Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation announced Saturday.
According to the ministry, 175 individuals had been detained over the past three days in various parts of Pakistan. They were released on Friday and returned through the Spin Boldak crossing in Kandahar province.
Upon arrival, the group received basic humanitarian aid before being transported to their respective provinces, the ministry said.
While the Taliban did not provide details on why the individuals were detained, Pakistani authorities have routinely been arresting and deporting Afghans without legal documents as part of an ongoing crackdown on undocumented migrants.
Since the start of April, Pakistan has also begun deporting Afghans holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC), which were previously issued by Pakistani authorities. An estimated 800,000 Afghans hold these cards.
Authorities have also announced plans to deport more than 1.3 million Afghans holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards—documents jointly issued by Pakistan and the UN refugee agency—by the end of June.
The United Nations estimates that Pakistan hosts around 3.2 million Afghans, including 1.3 million registered refugees and hundreds of thousands with varying forms of legal status.
Despite repeated appeals from the UN and human rights organizations to halt the mass deportations, Pakistani authorities have intensified their efforts in recent months.
According to UN figures, more than 900,000 Afghans have been deported or have returned voluntarily since the campaign began in November 2023. Over 80,000—many of them women and children—have been deported in April alone.
