Why are so many Afghans being kicked out of Pakistan? | Start Here

More than 370,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan after the government there announced a crackdown on undocumented refugees. What’s going on? And what do deteriorating relations between Pakistan’s government and the Taliban government in Afghanistan have to do with it? #AJStartHere with Sandra Gathmann explains.


Chapters
00:52 - Why are there many Afghan refugees in Pakistan?
01:15 - The difference between documented and undocumented refugees.
01:38 - What’s behind the Pakistani government’s policy?
02:37 - Why are Pakistani officials linking Afghan refugees to security?
02:59 - Who are the Pakistani Taliban? (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, TTP)
04:44 - Why the TTP issue is straining relations between Pakistan’s government and the Taliban government in Afghanistan.
05:42 - How is the TTP issue linked to Pakistan’s refugee crackdown?
06:03 - Who is among Pakistan’s undocumented refugees?
07:34 - How the deportation policy caused shock and panic among Afghans in Pakistan.
08:17 - How Afghans have been threatened and harassed by Pakistani officials.
09:43 - What happens once the refugees cross into Afghanistan?


This episode features:
Babar Baloch - Regional spokesperson, UNHCR
Abid Hussain - Pakistan correspondent, Al Jazeera digital
Madiha Afzal - Fellow, Foreign Policy, Brookings
Abdul Khaliq Sediqi - Communication Coordinator, Intl Rescue Committee

And let us know in the comments if there’s a topic you find confusing and would like Start Here to cover ⤵️

[aljazeeraenglish]

You can find the full Start Here playlist with all our episodes here ➡

[seeker]

If Europe does this then every Muslim gets angry.

[emilygirl]

Maybe because off the terror attacks Pakistan is facing !! Visited Pakistan and loved it

[mirrazvi]

Its not just in Pakistan, Iran is deporting About 5 million Afghans. Its sad really, i befriended a few Afghans and then they were kicked out. 😢

[NoBrainBoss]

Can't understand why they are not happy to go back to their motherland. The taliban finally freed afghanistan. No more war there. Now all the refugees from all over the world can go back. Why aren't they happy ?`Now they have a country for themselves.

[zainmakavelli]

There’s a huge issue of the black market. They’re one of the reasons we’re not able to collect from tariffs and taxes. Our local economy is suffering massively.

Drugs and terrorism is another subject.

[KT-ddme]

As a Pakistani I’m sad for my Afghan brothers and sisters. The government does nothing for them, they are hardworking people and earn money themselves. How are they burden?

[arsalanchauhan]

As a Pakistani I applaud the accurate content of this report. Its a shame our govt doing it the way they are right now, specially Afghans who are vorn here are Pakistani as we follow Jus Soli, I know Peshawar Highcourt said it does not apply to refugees but I think its absurd. Its true abt two govt not meeting eye to eye and also about TTP or fact many Afghans are involved in crimes but u can not say all are like this due to few bad eggs. Also west specially US caused this mess but does not take them leaving poor country like Pakistan to suffer.

[mustafamoeezfamily]

For over five decades, Pakistan, despite its economic constraints, has generously provided food and shelter to Afghan refugees—a feat even major global powers like the US and India, touted as the world's largest democracies, have struggled with. Given this significant contribution, one might ask: what more does the world expect from Pakistan?

[syedrizvi]

What happens when we are registered, can we go to Afghanistan by being registered like this? Afghanis definitely do not tolerate us. People who are protesting against the government's actions should be ashamed of themselves. Historical actions are being taken by the government on the Pakistan nation. What a great favor this government has always remembered in history
For 30 years, Pakistan made these illegal Afghan refugees a part of its society, they did business in our areas, built houses, got married.
But the Afghan majority remained anti-Pakistan, involved in smuggling and terrorism.

[Irfan-]

Being a Pakistani I must say this is a very complicated situation. On one hand state has the right to take the action because millions of undocumented Afghans are living in Pakistan and that is of course a serious security threat. But, on the other hand this sudden action is not something to appreciate. Many of these people even born here and the have never seen Afghanistan. It will be very hard for these people to go back to Afghanistan. Pakistan is like a dreamland for these afghan people. The Pakistani government was sleeping for so many decades. That is the governments fault. Giving them order to leave the country in such a short period of time is not justified.

[NevergiveUp-ksfw]

good decision by Pakistan government hope they will be success in a right way ...

[NfakArchives]

It is easier to view these events from an external perspective, but we have endured significant challenges due to Afghan refugees. That journalist easily said "without any evidence" while quoting internal minister but it is a fact that Afghan nationals are often involved in terrorism in Pakistan.


The afghan neighborhood depicted in this report is with in a mile of where i live, and its a ground reality that wherever Afghan migrants had a presence, incidents of crimes like theft and looting increased in the surrounding areas. 


Also it is a huge burden on our struggling economy. 1.7M is a big number. So this decision by the government absolutely makes sense

[ronnie]

Europe needs to learn after Pakistan. They share values and religion, and even they dont want to host them anymore

[arsalanhasan]

That's a long due initiative that Government of Pakistan taking it now. Enough is enough we gave them food, shelter, jobs and in return they dent our economy and involved in every possible crime. They are burden on our country from last 45 years and 3.5 million refugees is a big number. They have illegal settlements in every major cities of Pakistan where they have slums use water, electricity and natural gas without paying a penny. Sorry cannot be a good host anymore. But I also feel sorry for those who are legally moved to Pakistan. Governments should take strict actions if these legal immigrants have been harassed.

[umermaqsood]

I m Pakistani living in France and can understand the pain of those who came here for bright future here in eu there r alot of Pakistanis without doucements but with the passage of time they became legal so Pakistan also should legal those who have spent at least 10 years.

[ra.j]

It’s unfortunate that Pakistan is already financially weak

[seanarnaout]

As an American, I never knew that Afghans were being deported from Pakistan 🇵🇰 back into Afghanistan 🇦🇫.
I always thought Pakistan 🇵🇰 and Afghanistan 🇦🇫 had a good relationship and were friends.

[haf]

For me what is ironic is the fact that this has happened and there has not been any global outrage and if a similar situation was done in the west the entire world would have considered to be either a racist or some kind of religious hate towards the afghan people. This is just purely cruelty towards the afghanis.

[ahmadashraf]

Isn't this just returning refugee to their home place?

Afghanistan is in the process of recovery after being taken over by the new government. Even though there a little turmoil here and there, it's no longer a war zone.

From POV of countries, these is a pretty okay move?

Some would say it's a little heartless, but that's the problem with Nationalism in the first place. Nations divides people. But since almost everyone subscribes to that idea, the returning of people to their home is not an extreme move at all.

From Islam POV, I'm not sure how to say this. They are Muslim brothers afterall.

Idk. but in a way, aren't refugee count as guest? Guest shouldn't overstay their welcome. Guest definitely shouldn't make trouble to host (like refugee in my country, Malaysia). They have been welcomed and allow to stay for about 30 years? Since home is quite peaceful, there isn't any valid reason to refuse the deportation.