Islamabad said on Thursday that at least 44,000 Afghans who were approved to move to Western countries after the Taliban returned to power remain in limbo in Pakistan.
More than 120,000 people, mostly Afghans, were airlifted out of Kabul in chaotic evacuations days after the NATO-backed government collapsed in August 2021.
Since then, hundreds of thousands more Afghans have fled Taliban rule, many of them for the promise of new lives in countries that were involved in Afghanistan’s two-decade occupation.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that three years after the Taliban took power, there are still 25,000 Afghans approved for migration to the United States living in Pakistan.
In addition, 9,000 Afghans living in Pakistan have been accepted by Australia, 6,000 by Canada, 3,000 by Germany and more than 1,000 by the UK, all of whom have not yet emigrated.
“We have urged these countries and individuals to expedite the approval and visa procedures so that they can relocate as soon as possible,” Baloch told reporters at a weekly press conference.
After Kabul fell, most countries closed their Afghan embassies, resulting in many Afghan migrants remaining in Pakistan while their cases were handled by embassies in Islamabad.
Many of the Afghans who have been promised relocation are associated with foreign-backed governments and fear retribution from Taliban authorities.
On Tuesday, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif pressed UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi about the backlog of Afghans awaiting relocation and the large number of refugees who have arrived with no plans for their onward movement.
“The international community must recognise the burden Pakistan is carrying in hosting so many refugees and show collective responsibility,” Sharif told Grandi, according to a statement released by his office.
About 600,000 Afghans have crossed into Pakistan since the Taliban took power and implemented a strict version of Islam.
In the four decades prior, millions more had arrived fleeing successive conflicts, including the Soviet invasion, civil war and the US-led occupation after 9/11.
But since last year, a deterioration in relations with Kabul over security has led Islamabad to launch a campaign to expel large numbers of illegal Afghans.
Fearing arrest, more than half a million people have returned to Afghanistan. Islamabad announced on Wednesday it would extend the right to stay for registered Afghan refugees for another year, but pressure to repatriate undocumented refugees will continue.
