Pakistan: Afghan Deportations as a Response to Taliban's Non-Cooperation

Pakistan stated on Wednesday that its move to deport hundreds of thousands of unregistered Afghans was a response to the Taliban-led administration's unwillingness to address militants using Afghanistan as a base for attacks within Pakistan. Prime Minister Anwar ul-Haq Kakar revealed that "15 suicide bombings in recent months were carried out by Afghans, and dozens of Afghans were killed in clashes with Pakistani security forces," adding that "there is evidence proving the facilitation of militants' presence in Afghanistan." Kakar noted that "Islamabad had hoped the Taliban's rise to power in 2021, following the withdrawal of US-led foreign troops from the country, would lead to peace and cooperation." However, he mentioned that since then, there has been a 60 percent increase in armed attacks in Pakistan and a 500 percent increase in suicide bombings, which have resulted in the deaths of over 2,200 Pakistanis. Last month, Pakistan set November 1 as the deadline to begin deporting all illegal immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans, citing security reasons while ignoring calls from the United Nations, human rights organizations, and Western embassies to reconsider the decision. As a result, tens of thousands of Afghans, many of whom have lived in Pakistan for decades, have been forced to leave the country, and authorities are arresting large numbers of them in raids across the country.