Pakistani authorities have intensified abusive tactics and other pressure on Afghan refugees to return to Afghanistan, where they risk persecution by the Taliban and face dire economic conditions, Human Rights Watch said today.
The human rights situation in Afghanistan has continued to deteriorate since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Women and girls are banned from postprimary education and denied a broad range of rights and freedoms. Human rights defenders, journalists, and former government personnel are at particular risk. And all of those returning struggle to survive amid Afghanistan's soaring unemployment, broken healthcare system, and dwindling foreign assistance.
"Pakistani officials should immediately stop coercing Afghans to return home and give those facing expulsion the opportunity to seek protection," said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan should prevent any reprisals against returning Afghans and reverse their abusive policies against women and girls."
On January 31, 2025, Pakistan's Ministry of Interior announced that Afghans without official residence documents, along with holders of Afghan Citizen Cards, must leave the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi or face deportation. Afghans holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards must leave by June 30.
During 2024, Human Rights Watch interviewed 35 Afghans in Pakistan and several who had recently arrived in Afghanistan about the reasons they left Pakistan and the conditions they confronted upon arrival. Human Rights Watch also interviewed representatives of aid organizations working with Afghan refugees on both sides of the border.
A previous wave of deportations and expulsions, from September 2023 through January 2024, drove over 800,000 Afghans - many born in Pakistan or living there for decades - to Afghanistan. Since November 2024, Pakistani authorities have renewed pressure to expel Afghans. More than 70 percent of those returning have been women and children, including girls of secondary school age and women who will no longer have access to education.
Pakistani police have raided houses, beat and arbitrarily detained people, and confiscated refugee documents, including residence permits. They have demanded bribes to allow Afghans to remain in Pakistan. The United Nations reported that most Afghans who have returned to Afghanistan have cited fear of detention by Pakistani authorities as the reason they left.
Masood Rahmati, an Afghan sports journalist, said that even Afghans who are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or who had valid residence cards were not safe. "We had PoR cards," said Atifi. "But the police cut our cards and sent us to Afghanistan."
Among those most at risk are people affiliated with the former Afghan government's security forces. Human Rights Watch and the UN have documented extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention, and torture and other ill-treatment of people affiliated with the former government's military and police forces, some of whom had returned to Afghanistan after first seeking refuge in Pakistan. Journalists and activists who fled to Pakistan after criticizing the Taliban also fear retaliation. And the Taliban have threatened, arbitrarily detained, and tortured women who have protested the Taliban's policies.
"I left Afghanistan because I was a human rights activist and protested against the Taliban," said Naheed, who, after fleeing Afghanistan in August 2024, was living in hiding in Pakistan, fearing deportation, and whose full name, as with others, is not used for his protection. "Once my identity was revealed, I had to leave: I can't return while the Taliban are in power."
Returning refugees have generally had to abandon property and savings in Pakistan, and have few livelihood opportunities or little land in Afghanistan. Following the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan lost access to the international banking system and almost all foreign development aid, which had largely funded the former Afghan government. As a result, its economy contracted sharply, with a loss of tens of thousands of jobs.
As of January, more than 22 million Afghans, almost half the population, required emergency food aid and other assistance, and an estimated 3.5 million children were acutely malnourished. Very few support services are available for people with disabilities. The Taliban's ban on women's employment with nongovernmental organizations has compounded the crisis by limiting women's access to work and services.
"Don't ask about life," said Mohmadullah, who arrived in Kandahar in February 2024. "There's no electricity, no fan. This is not life. Our tent has holes, and our floor gets wet. My kids sleep hungry."
Women and girls returning to Afghanistan face severe restrictions on their rights to education, employment, and freedom of movement. "There's a school in front of our place [in Kandahar], but girls are not allowed," said Hamidullah, who had lived in Pakistan for 40 years and was deported to Afghanistan in 2024. "I have five daughters who used to go to school."
Countries hosting Afghan refugees, including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand, should maintain the position that Afghanistan is unsafe for returns. Pakistan's coerced returns, expulsions and deportations of Afghans may amount to violations of Pakistan's obligations as a party to the UN Convention Against Torture and the customary international law principle prohibiting refoulement, or forced return to a place where they would face a genuine risk of persecution, torture or other ill-treatment, or a threat to their life. Germany and other countries have also put Afghans at risk by deporting them to Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan is not safe for any forced refugee returns," Pearson said, "Countries that pledged to resettle at-risk Afghans should respond to the urgency of the situation in Pakistan and expedite those cases."
Surge in Coerced Returns and Expulsions of Afghans from Pakistan
As of the start of 2025, Afghans were one of the world's largest refugee populations, numbering 6.4 million. Many Afghan refugees in Pakistan have lived there since the war in Afghanistan began in 1978. Continuing instability, including the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, have driven 1.6 million more Afghans to neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
In late 2023, Pakistani authorities issued directives that all Afghans living without legal status had to leave voluntarily or face deportation. Broadcalls by Pakistani officials for mass deportations instigated an increase in police abuse against Afghans, including assault, arbitrary detention, and destruction of property. By December 2024, over 800,000 Afghans had left Pakistan for Afghanistan, with 85 percent reporting fear of arrest as the reason. More than 38,000 were deported following an arrest.
The numbers had slowed since the beginning of 2024. However, renewed calls accusing Afghans of supporting militant groups in Pakistan led to further threats and police abuse in late 2024, despite a temporary extension of Afghans' identity documents.
In November 2024, Pakistan's Interior Ministry announced that Afghans could not stay in Islamabad, the capital, after December 31. By the end of December, police had detained over 800 Afghans in Islamabad. Since then, Pakistani authorities have called again for the expulsion of all Afghan refugees.
Refugees told Human Rights Watch that Pakistani police raided their houses or neighborhoods both during the day and at night and took them or relatives to police stations to extort money. A 33-year-old Afghan woman living in Islamabad said the house raids in her area began at 4 a.m., "as if they are looking for criminals. It's a very traumatizing experience."
Zahra, who has lived in Pakistan since 2023, said, "They brought trucks and arrested people. If you don't open the door, they will enter through the windows. They don't care about children or older people. I know of people with valid visas who had to pay between 20,000 and 100,000 rupees [US$70 to $400] not to be arrested."
Hashema M., a former prosecutor, feared being deported back to Afghanistan. "I have given a lock to my neighbors to lock me inside, so they think I'm not home," she said. "My 4-year-old daughter has had a fever since yesterday, but I dare not take her to the doctor as we don't go out."
Another Afghan coerced to leave said, "They don't care about pending visas or UNHCR cases. Even those who have visas need to bribe." A women living in hiding in Islamabad said, "They have arrested people from classes. The fact they are arresting people from everywhere affects people's mental health."
Even when just one family member lacks the necessary legal documentation, the police may force all family members to leave, or expel half the family while some, including children, stay in Pakistan. Aid organization representatives said that children under 18 have been left in Pakistan without their parents or deported on their own to Afghanistan. Police have arrested children walking to school, and Afghans in school, and at workplaces and markets. One nongovernmental organization representative said that some Afghans were keeping their children out of school for fear they might be deported. Teenage boys in particular are at high risk of being arrested and deported.
Afghans in Pakistan who have pending resettlement cases in other countries, such as the US and Germany, are also at risk of being deported back to Afghanistan. Atefa R., 37, who has been living in Pakistan since 2023 and has a pending humanitarian protection case with Canada, said: "On January 4, 2025, police detained my husband. They took him even when I told them we are waiting for our Canadian visa to be processed. He was released after we paid 20,000 rupees [$70]."
At border crossing points, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) provide assistance for Afghans arriving from Pakistan. Those returning have only a few days to move through these transit centers, where they are given temporary accommodation, food, health checks, hygiene kits, and transportation to their destinations.
Aid groups try to identify people from marginalized groups, such as women traveling alone, people with disabilities, and unaccompanied children, for additional support and available psychosocial services. "When people arrive, we provide immediate assistance, but that's not enough for them to build a life," said a director of a humanitarian organization.
The groups cannot provide some essential services due to lack of funds and Taliban restrictions. "We work with some civil society NGOs that work with communities to make referrals, and do some medical tests, but these are limited services," said a humanitarian organization representative. One organization that works with returnees said, "The transit time is short, and [the returnees] need to be moved quickly. We don't have time to register and follow up."
Abuses Against People Associated with the Former Government
Because returnees are formally registered at border crossings, some Afghans who fear they might face retribution from the Taliban may instead enter Afghanistan through other areas along its porous border with Pakistan. Those who are deported do not have that option, though.
Ahmad M., who had worked in the former government's security forces, fled to Pakistan after the Taliban takeover and was deported back to Afghanistan in November 2023. He said that the Taliban arrested him when he arrived in Afghanistan. "I was in detention for two months," Ahmad M. said. "Every night, they would tell me: 'We will kill you tonight,' but they didn't. I was beaten in the National Directorate of Security prison. They hid their faces because they didn't want me to recognize them. I was released after two months, but I know of so many colleagues who have been detained and disappeared."
Taliban's Ban on Education and Abuses Based on Gender
Since taking power, the Taliban have banned education for girls and women beyond primary school. In December 2024, the authorities closed one of the last remaining loopholes in their ban on education for older girls and women by forbidding them from attending institutions offering medical education. For Afghans returning from Pakistan, where girls and women could attend school and university regardless of age, these bans have been devastating.
"My 13-year-old daughter used to go to school and can't go here," said Noor Mohamad, who was deported to Nimroz province. "It's a very difficult life."
Mahmoud S., who had lived in Pakistan for 27 years and was deported from Peshawar to a returnee township in Logar province in mid-2024, also said his daughters used to go to school in Pakistan, and now "in Afghanistan they can't."
In most provinces, the Taliban have issued regulations that forbid women from travelling or leaving their houses without being accompanied by a mahram - a male relative as a chaperone - including to go to work. Bibbi Roshana, who used to make and sell handicrafts in Islamabad and was deported in May 2024, can't run her small business anymore. "In Nimroz, as a woman, you need to have a mahram to be able to sell your products, so I can't," she said.
Ayesha L., who was forced to leave Pakistan in December 2023, said that her daughter was an English teacher in Pakistan. "Here, she cries all day and is depressed," she said. Fatima M., who was forced to leave Pakistan and return to Kabul in January 2024 said, "I feel I am in prison, but I don't know what crime I have committed."
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people also fear harassment and detention. While previous Afghan governments criminalized same-sex conduct, LGBT people report that abuses have intensified under the Taliban. There is no dedicated referral system among embassies and international agencies for the protection of LGBT people.
Lack of Livelihoods and Access to Services
The UN has reported that more than half of the Afghan population of 42 million are experiencing food insecurity, with 14.8 million people facing acute hunger. In addition, 14 million people have limited access to basic healthcare services, including medicine. Many new arrivals settle in "returnee townships" populated by recent returnees and other displaced people that generally do not have work opportunities or sources of income, and lack education and health services.
According to the Taliban's Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, as of mid-2024, there were 46 such refugee townships in 29 out of 34 of the country's provinces. A UNHCR survey found that Afghan returnees cited housing, food, and financial assistance, along with protection issues including fear of arrest and need for political protection, as their most important concerns.
Zarif H., who was deported to Afghanistan in October 2023, said that returnees lack adequate food, drinking water, and housing. Gul Agha, who was deported in November 2023 and currently lives in Logar, said, "There are 14 families with about 85 members in this township. None has a job. We struggle to find food for our children every day." Ahmad Gul, at a similar site in Kandahar, said: "There are no jobs. I have been living with my family in a tent at a refugee camp for the past six months."
Many returnees lack tazkiras (identity documents), which are required for assistance, to get a mobile phone, or to register children for school. Abdul Hadi, a recent returnee in Farah, said:
I was deported six months ago. I lived in Pakistan all my life. I don't have an ID card. I have eight family members. I am very poor here. My life used to be better. I have daughters who are 7 and 8 years old and they can't go to school. I don't know what the procedure is [to get a tazkira].
Hazarat Gul, 51, who had also lived in Pakistan all his life, cannot get aid services. "I don't have a tazkira, and I don't know anyone in my village who can help," he said. "Getting a tazkira in Afghanistan is a long process and requires two individuals who can confirm the applicant's identity." Afghans returning from many years or decades in Pakistan may not be able to locate two people from their original district to vouch for them.
An official with an aid organization based in Nangarhar said: "There's an urgent need for these families to be registered at the border. The Taliban authorities must open mobile tazkira issuance centers at the Torkham and Spin Boldak borders."
The lack of adequate health care has also affected those forced out of Pakistan, particularly women and girls for whom there are few female doctors available, especially in rural areas. One Helmand resident who had recently returned said that his sister had been ill for months: "But we can't afford to send her to a central hospital. In our area, there's no female doctor."
Humanitarian organizations face problems due to lack of sufficient funds as well as the Taliban's restrictions on women's employment and freedom of movement. "The mahram policy has made our work difficult," said a humanitarian worker. "Our female staff need to be accompanied by male guardians; otherwise, they could be stopped at checkpoints. The authorities also require us to have separate offices and vehicles for women, which is expensive."
Hamid S.'s children also haven't been able to receive medical care since they were forced to return to Afghanistan in November 2023: "Both my children have thalassemia (a blood disorder) and need continuous treatment. I had taken them to our 'clinic,' but they told me I must take them to a private hospital because they can't treat them here. With no job, I can't afford private healthcare services."
People with Disabilities
Afghans with disabilities who return to their provinces of origin face even greater problems in accessing essential services outside of provincial centers, and most cannot afford the travel costs. Services at transit centers and returnee townships are often physically inaccessible for people with physical disabilities. "Toilets and bathing areas are not accessible to people with physical disabilities," said a humanitarian worker at the Torkham border crossing.
An international organization reported that due to the short stay in transit centers and inadequate assessments, people with disabilities lack sufficient referral to organizations providing disability-specific services.
"There are no special services for people with disabilities on either side of the border," said Sharifa M., 43, who has a physical disability.
People with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities also face severe challenges accessing disability-specific services, due to lack of availability, stigma, and funding for these programs.
Returnees with disabilities are subject to stigma and discrimination by both the Taliban authorities and host communities that exacerbates their marginalization. Women with disabilities have been at risk due to the intersection of gender and disability-based discrimination. An aid worker at the Torkham border said that humanitarian staff often lack awareness of disability-related needs and fail to prioritize needed aid to people with disabilities.
The forced return of people to Afghanistan has had significant mental health consequences. Many people face anxiety, depression, and trauma related to displacement and fear of persecution. Yet, Afghanistan has long had a severe lack of mental health services. Studies suggest that one out of two Afghans has experienced stress, anxiety, or other forms of psychological distress from political violence, instability, and poverty.
Recommendations
To the Pakistan Government
- Respect the principle of nonrefoulement and stop the forced return and deportation of Afghans regardless of their current legal status in Pakistan. People who return voluntarily should not be coerced and should be fully informed about conditions in Afghanistan. They should be granted adequate time to prepare and be able to return with their assets, including household items, livelihood, and savings. UNHCR and IOM should have full access and be involved in monitoring and facilitating all phases of the voluntary repatriation process.
- Extend and reopen registration for Proof of Registration cards and Afghan Citizen Cards.
- Issue written directives to all relevant police and other security forces to end abuses, including arbitrary detention, unlawful house raids, and extortion.
- Investigate and appropriately discipline or prosecute police and other officials responsible for abuses against Afghan nationals.
- Issue legal residency for Afghans born in Pakistan.
To the Taliban:
- Reverse bans on access to secondary and higher education for girls and women and employment of women, and end all rights violations against women and girls.
- End abuses, including arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment against former government personnel, and immediately investigate and hold to account those responsible for these abuses.
- Immediately open a mobile office at the Pakistan border to issue identification documents (tazkira) free for Afghan refugees who are deported or forced to return from Pakistan.
To Concerned Governments:
- Stop the deportations of Afghans from any country and adhere to the policy that Afghanistan is not a safe country to which to forcibly return any refugee.
- Increase resettlement of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to third countries and expedite the emergency resettlement of at-risk Afghans.
- Fund and prioritize support for people with disabilities in transit centers and provinces to which they return, including disability-inclusive needs assessments.
- Fund health services, including psychosocial support and mental health services, in Afghanistan.
