Pakistan Deporting Afghans Who Seek Asylum from Taliban
by Uzay Bulut • December 29, 2023 at 5:00 am
"Those at particular risk are civil society activists, journalists, human rights defenders, former government officials and security force members, and of course women and girls as a whole, who, as a result of the abhorrent policies currently in place in Afghanistan, are banned from secondary and tertiary education, working in many sectors and other aspects of daily and public life." – UN High Commissioner for Refugees, ohchr.org, October 27, 2023
"Asad and his family fled Afghanistan in 2021 when his friends and colleagues were murdered after the Taliban came to power. 'I am on several lists maintained by the Taliban and I am certain I will be killed if I go back...'" -- Amnesty International, amnesty.org, November 10, 2023
The terrorism that Pakistan complains about comes from the Taliban in Afghanistan – that Pakistan supported for decades -- not from the Afghan asylum seekers in Pakistan.
What Pakistan has done.... is to counter terrorists that challenge its own authority while actively supporting other terrorists who challenge other governments – particularly in India and the West.
There are no "good jihadist terrorists."
What has caused an increase in terrorism in Pakistan is not Afghan people trying to survive in Pakistan, but Pakistan's own policies that, for decades, have empowered jihadist terrorists domestically and abroad.
Pakistan has started mass deportation of undocumented Afghans in the country. The move sends hundreds of thousands who fled the Taliban when they took over in 2021 after American troops withdrew, and violates principles of refugee non-refoulement. If forcibly returned, these refugees are at risk of persecution.
Pakistan claims its mass deportations of these Afghans is due to "increased terrorism" in the country -- but it was the government of Pakistan that for decades supported the Taliban in Afghanistan. Ever since they took over the country in 2021, Afghanistan has just become a safe haven for terrorist groups.
