Islamabad, Pakistan – Allah Meer’s dad and mom have been among the millions of Afghans who fled their nation after the then-Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979.
His household settled in a refugee village in Kohat in northwestern Pakistan, the place he was born in 1980, and by no means left. That’s the place Meer, now 45, was born. Meer says that greater than 200 members of his prolonged household made the journey from Afghanistan to Pakistan, which has been their residence ever since.
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Over the previous two years, as Pakistan has moved to ship again a whole bunch of hundreds of Afghan refugees, the household has feared for its future, however managed to evade Islamabad’s dragnet.
Final week, the specter of expulsion hit residence: Pakistan introduced it could shut all 54 Afghan refugee villages throughout the nation as a part of the marketing campaign it started in 2023 to push out what it calls “unlawful foreigners”. These embrace the villages in Kohat, the place Meer and his household dwell.
“In my life, I visited Afghanistan solely as soon as, for 2 weeks in 2013. Aside from that, none of my household have ever gone again,” Meer advised Al Jazeera. “How can I uproot every thing after we have been born right here, lived right here, married right here, and buried our family members right here?”
Amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban, which returned to governing Afghanistan in 2021, households like Meer’s are caught in a vortex of uncertainty.
Combating erupted between Afghan and Pakistani forces alongside the border earlier in October, pushing already strained relations into open hostility. On Sunday, officers from each side met in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and signed a ceasefire settlement, with the following spherical of talks scheduled in Istanbul on October 25.
But, tensions stay excessive. And households like Meer’s worry that they may turn out to be diplomatic pawns in a border conflict between the neighbours.
From welcome to expulsion
Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees because the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. As civil conflict gripped Afghanistan and the Taliban first rose to energy in 1996, successive waves of Afghans fled throughout the border.
After the USA invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the September 11 assaults on the US, the Taliban’s fall prompted hundreds of Afghans to return residence. However their return was short-lived.
The Taliban’s beautiful comeback in August 2021 triggered one more exodus, when one other 600,000 to 800,000 Afghans sought refuge in Pakistan.
Nonetheless, as relations between Kabul and Islamabad soured in the course of the previous 4 years, Pakistan – which was as soon as the Taliban’s principal patron – accused Afghanistan of harbouring armed teams liable for the cross-border assaults. The federal government’s stance hardened in the direction of Afghan refugees, even those that have lived within the nation for many years – like Meer.
A father of 10, Meer earned a level in training from a college in Peshawar, and now runs a vocational coaching mission for Afghan refugee kids backed by the United Nations refugee company, the UNHCR.
Since 2006, the UNHCR has issued what are generally known as Proof of Registration (PoR) playing cards to doc Afghan residents residing in Pakistan. These playing cards have allowed them to remain in Pakistan legally, giving them some freedom of motion, though that is restricted, in addition to entry to some public providers, together with financial institution accounts.
However from June 30 this 12 months, the Pakistani authorities has stopped renewing PoR playing cards and has invalidated current ones.
“All of us possess the UNHCR-issued Proof of Residence playing cards, however now, with this present drive, I don’t know what’s going to occur,” Meer mentioned.
In 2017, Pakistan additionally began issuing Afghan Citizenship Playing cards (ACC) to undocumented Afghan nationals residing within the nation, giving them identification credentials to supply them with a brief authorized standing.
However the ACC isn’t a safety towards deportation any extra.
In accordance with the UNHCR, greater than 1.5 million Afghans left Pakistan – voluntarily or forcibly – between the beginning of the marketing campaign in 2023 and mid-October, 2025.
‘Unlawful in our residence’
About 1.2 million PoR cardholders, 737,000 ACC holders and 115,000 asylum seekers stay in Pakistan, Qaiser Khan Afridi, the UNHCR’s spokesperson in Pakistan, advised Al Jazeera.
Pakistan’s tensions with the Taliban have added new precarity to their standing.
“For over 45 years, Pakistan has proven extraordinary generosity by internet hosting millions of Afghan refugees,” Afridi mentioned. “However we’re deeply involved by the federal government’s determination to de-notify refugee villages throughout Pakistan and to push for returns [to Afghanistan].”
“A lot of these affected have lived right here for years, and now worry for his or her future. We urge that any return ought to be voluntary, gradual, and carried out with dignity and security.”
Meer, who has volunteered for the UNHCR over time, mentioned that seven refugee villages in Kohat alone home greater than 100,000 individuals. He accused each Pakistan and Afghanistan of utilizing the refugee challenge as political leverage.
“With the newest scenario, our household elders have sat collectively to debate choices. We thought of sending a few of our younger males to Afghanistan to search for homes and means to do enterprise, however the issue is, now we have no connections there in any respect,” he mentioned.
Together with his PoR card now invalidated by the Pakistani authorities, he has no recognised id card, making it exhausting for him to entry even medical amenities when his kids want remedy for any sickness.
“We’re, for all sensible functions, thought-about unlawful in a rustic that I and my kids name residence,” he mentioned.
Caught between borders
Pakistan’s plan to expel Afghan residents started in late 2023, amid an increase in rebe assaults. Since then, violence has surged, with 2025 shaping up to be probably the most violent 12 months in a decade.
Pakistani authorities argue Afghan refugees pose a safety threat, accusing the Taliban authorities of sheltering armed teams, a cost Kabul denies.
Two years in the past, Pakistan’s then inside minister, Sarfraz Bugti, alleged that 14 out of 24 suicide bombings within the nation in 2023 have been carried out by Afghan nationals. He didn’t present any proof to again his declare, and he didn’t make clear if the people have been refugees residing in Pakistan, or Afghan nationals who had crossed the porous border between the 2 international locations.
However Meer fears that Afghan refugees in Pakistan will likely be distrusted again in Afghanistan, too, given the local weather of animosity between the neighbours.
“We will likely be seen as Pakistanis, as enemies there, too,” he mentioned.
Afridi, the UNHCR spokesperson, urged Pakistan to rethink its repatriation drive.
“UNHCR calls on the federal government to use measures to exempt Afghans with worldwide safety wants from involuntary return,” he mentioned.
“Pakistan has a proud historical past of hospitality, and it’s vital to proceed that custom at this important time,” he mentioned.
