'Strategic Depth' No More? Pakistan Sets Deadline For Afghan Refugees To Leave, Accusing Them Of Terrorist Attacks

Pakistan has issued a deadline to undocumented immigrants residing in the country to voluntarily leave by 1 November or face arrest and deportation.

This move has raised concerns about potential persecution in their home countries and the emergence of a humanitarian crisis, particularly for Afghan immigrants who fled the violent Taliban takeover in August 2021.

As the deadline approached, approximately 1.7 million Afghans, including women and children, gathered their belongings, loaded them onto trucks, and embarked on the journey back to Afghanistan.

The decision to crack down on Afghan migrants comes at a time when Pakistan is experiencing an increase in suicide attacks, which the government attributes to groups operating from Afghanistan.

For decades, Pakistan claimed that it would gain 'strategic depth' against India, a superior conventional military power, by having influence and presence in Kabul. That calculation appears to have changed drastically following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, that Pakistan aided and abetted for decades.

Pakistan's caretaker Interior Minister, Sarfraz Bugti, explained the government's decision, citing Afghan nationals' involvement in attacks, smuggling, and other criminal activities within Pakistan, as reported by Livemint.

Bugti stated, "There have been 24 suicide bomb attacks since January this year, and 14 of them were carried out by Afghan nationals."

Pakistan has claimed that Afghans were behind 14 suicide attacks this year and has accused militant groups operating in its territory of training fighters across the border.

Western embassies and the United Nations have called on Pakistan to identify and protect Afghans at risk of persecution in their home country.