'We decide who stays': How Pakistan's mass expulsion of Afghans is deepening Afghanistan’s disaster

Afghans search remnants of damaged houses, after earthquakes at Nurgal district in Kunar province, in Eastern Afghanistan, on September 4, 2025.

Pakistan has brushed aside a United Nations appeal to pause the mass expulsion of Afghan nationals despite a devastating humanitarian crisis across the border. More than 2,200 people have been killed in powerful earthquakes in Afghanistan, yet Islamabad is pressing ahead with its deportation plan.

Rights groups say the crackdown is worsening the suffering of vulnerable families, many of whom have spent years or even their entire lives in Pakistan. UN officials warn the decision could deepen instability in quake-hit areas already struggling to cope with displaced people.

Pakistan rejects UN call

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi urged Pakistan to halt its mass deportations given the scale of the disaster. “Given the circumstances, I appeal to the (government of Pakistan) to pause the implementation of the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan,” Grandi said.

But Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan dismissed the appeal at a press briefing. “Any people with no documentation should leave. This is what Pakistan is doing and what any other country will be doing, including in Europe and other countries… it is our territory, we decide who stays in,” he said.

Longtime hosts, harsh crackdown

Pakistan has hosted Afghans fleeing war and poverty for more than four decades, from the Soviet invasion to the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. Yet its policies have hardened. “Any people with no documentation should leave. This is what Pakistan is doing and what any other country will be doing, including in Europe and other countries… it is our territory, we decide who stays in,” Khan reiterated.

The World Health Organization estimates 270,000 recent returnees have settled in earthquake-hit Afghan districts bordering Pakistan. Afghans awaiting relocation to Germany report repeated police raids on guest houses where they have been told to stay for months while cases are processed.

Many of those living in eastern Afghanistan’s quake zones were among the more than four million Afghans forced back from Iran and Pakistan in recent years. Some were born and raised in Pakistan while others used the country as a transit point to the West.

Deadlines and deportations

Citing an uptick in violent attacks, Islamabad launched a mass crackdown in 2023, portraying Afghans as “terrorists and criminals.” According to the United Nations, more than 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return from Pakistan since then, including more than 443,000 this year alone.

The campaign now targets an estimated 1.3 million refugees with Proof of Registration cards issued by UNHCR. Pakistan has given them until September 1 to leave or face arrest and deportation, ignoring pleas that such expulsions in the middle of a natural disaster will deepen misery and instability across the border.