Pakistan issues fresh call for Afghans to leave

• Thousands of Afghans gather at Chaman border to return.
• Fresh orders issued to repatriate Afghans respectfully and orderly.
• Iran has also deported over 1.5 million Afghans in recent years.
  

Pakistan issued a new call on Friday for Afghans living in the southwest to leave the country, triggering thousands to rush to the border, officials said.

A deportation drive first launched in 2023 was renewed in April when the government rescinded hundreds of thousands of residence permits for Afghans, warning them of arrests if they did not leave.

"We have received directives from the home department to launch a fresh drive to repatriate all Afghans... in a respectful and orderly manner," Mehar Ullah, a senior government official in Quetta, told AFP.

On Friday, there were "around 4,000 to 5,000 people at the Chaman border" waiting to return, said Habib Bingalzai, a senior government official in Chaman.

Abdul Latif Hakimi, the head of Refugee Registration in Afghanistan's Kandahar province across the border, said they were aware of an increase in returning Afghans on Friday.

In total, more than one million Afghans have left Pakistan since 2023, including more than 200,000 since April.

The campaign targeted the more than 800,000 Afghans with temporary residence permits, some of whom were born in Pakistan or have lived here for decades.

Last year, Pakistan recorded the highest number of deaths from attacks in a decade and the government frequently accuses Afghan nationals of taking part in attacks.

Iran has also launched a large-scale deportation campaign of Afghans, which has seen more than 1.5 million sent back across the border.