Pakistan faces inflows of asylum seekers from Afghanistan

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan is facing new inflows of asylum seekers from neighboring Afghanistan, following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, according to the UN refugee agency.

Speaking on the eve of the World Refugees Day, observed June 20 every year, Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Pakistan, said more than 250,000 Afghans seeking asylum have trickled into Pakistan since January 2021.

“UNHCR is aware that over 250,000 Afghans seeking asylum are reported to have arrived in Pakistan since January 2021, however, the overall number of Afghans with international protection needs is likely to be higher,” said Afridi.

“We are currently discussing with the government of Pakistan the way forward on registration and documentation of asylum-seekers, predominantly from Afghanistan,” he said.

Hundreds of thousands of Afghans fled to Pakistan and Iran since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last August.

Many left the country, even before the capture of Kabul, fearing a backlash from the hard-ling group, whereas others found an opportunity to emigrate to the US or Europe.

The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported earlier this week that many top officials in the US-backed previous Afghan government had started purchasing expensive properties in the US and other countries in the final years of the war, which ended in an unexpected surrender of the Afghan National Army.

Many former Afghan ministers and officials, according to the newspaper, are enjoying a “luxurious” life and ” living in mansions” in high-end localities in the US.

Last week, Pakistan’s federal cabinet approved a policy under which, Islamabad will issue transit visas to the Afghan asylum seekers to enter the country legally to complete paperwork for further international travel.

No increase in repatriation

There has been no increase in the number of Afghan refugees returning to their homeland after the Taliban’s takeover, said the UNHCR.

Afridi said only 850 refugees (185 families) have returned to the war-torn country since the beginning of 2022 under the commission’s voluntary repatriation program.

The figure, he added, is slightly higher compared to repatriation during the same period last year.

“Upon return, repatriated families receive a grant to support them as they rebuild their lives and communities. The UNHCR provides financial support of $250 each to the repatriating families,” he added.

Pakistan is currently hosting 1.3 million documented and almost as many undocumented Afghan refugees. Of them, a majority are residing in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which serves as a gateway to Afghanistan.

The southwestern Balochistan province and the country’s commercial capital, Karachi, also host a large number of refugees.

“UNHCR advocates that returns need to be voluntary and take place in conditions of safety, dignity and security,” said Afridi.

Saleem Khan, the chief commissioner for Afghan refugees, said the repatriation process remained sluggish because of coronavirus-related restrictions in the past two years, aside from economic and political developments in Afghanistan.

“The process has seen a kind of resumption over the past one week but it’s premature to predict the future trend. It will take another couple of months to determine that,” he told Anadolu Agency.

‘No plan to go back’ 

Hunched on plastic chairs outside a cafe and enjoying green tea at a refugee camp in the southern port city of Karachi, a group of Afghan youths had no plans to return to their homeland.

Located on the northern outskirts of Pakistan’s most populous city, the run-down locality with limited access to health care and basic sanitation is home to nearly 250,000 refugees who were forced to flee due to a lingering conflict.

Karachi is home to more than 300,000 Afghan refugees, most of whom work as laborers or own small shops in Pashtun-dominated areas.

Maulana Rahimullah, who migrated to Pakistan and made Karachi his new home in 1980 following the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, cites the economy and unwillingness of young refugees as reasons behind a snail-paced repatriation despite “much better” law and order in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

“Here we often get work to make a living. But that’s still not the case in Afghanistan,” he said.

The father of six, Rahimullah said the younger generations born and raised in Pakistan have little interest to go back to their homeland.

“Even if I want to go back, my children won’t let me go. For them, this (Pakistan) is their country,” he said.

According to UNHCR, more than 4.4 million refugees have been repatriated to Afghanistan since 2002, but many, including hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, returned to Pakistan due to violence, unemployment and a lack of education and medical facilities.