For thousands of Afghans who have spent years — and in some cases their entire lives — in Pakistan, the country they once considered home is increasingly becoming a place to hide.
Pakistan has intensified its campaign to remove undocumented Afghans under its Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan, a policy first announced in 2023. The latest escalation comes as relations between Islamabad and Taliban-led Afghanistan deteriorate over security, border clashes and accusations of militant activity.
Among those caught in the crackdown are Afghans born and raised in Pakistan who have never even visited Afghanistan.
CNA reported the case of 25-year-old Shayaan Khan, whose family fled Afghanistan during the Soviet-Afghan war. Born in Pakistan, Khan has spent his entire life there. Yet after losing his legal status, he says he has been forced into hiding and has sold his business because of fears of arrest and deportation.
“We were born and raised here. If we go back, we’ll have to start from scratch,” Khan told CNA.
Deportations accelerate
The latest phase of Pakistan’s campaign intensified after the Interior Ministry instructed law-enforcement agencies to step up arrests of undocumented Afghan migrants from July 10.
According to United Nations data cited by CNA, 6,195 Afghans returned from Pakistan between July 5 and July 11, roughly one-third more than the previous week. The International Organization for Migration has reported that more than 2.5 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan since Pakistan’s repatriation campaign began in 2023. Pakistan is still home to more than one million Afghans, according to UN figures cited by CNA.
Human Rights Watch says the pressure has gone beyond people without documentation. The group reported that Pakistani police have conducted raids, searches and arrests in Afghan communities and that some Afghans with valid visas have also been detained. HRW said more than 146,000 Afghans had been deported from Pakistan in 2026 alone as of April, with the pace increasing after April 1.
The campaign is therefore becoming a major regional displacement story rather than a narrowly defined immigration enforcement operation.
Why Pakistan is pushing back
Islamabad says the deportation campaign is tied to immigration enforcement and national security.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan of allowing militant organisations, particularly Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory and launch attacks against Pakistan.
The Taliban government rejects those accusations.
The dispute has become increasingly dangerous. AP reported that cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan killed 499 Afghan civilians and wounded 1,216 between October and the end of June, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
Pakistan, for its part, says its military strikes target militant infrastructure and denies deliberately targeting civilians.
The result is a cycle that is becoming harder to contain: militant attacks fuel Pakistani security concerns, security operations increase pressure on Afghans inside Pakistan, deportations intensify tensions with Kabul, and worsening bilateral relations increase the risk of further violence along the border.
A humanitarian crisis is building in Afghanistan
The biggest question may be what happens to those sent back.
Afghanistan was already facing severe economic and humanitarian pressures before the latest wave of returns. The country is now absorbing people arriving from both Pakistan and Iran on a scale that aid agencies say is becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
AP reported that 5.4 million Afghans had returned to Afghanistan since October 2023, mostly from Pakistan and Iran, according to UNHCR. The agency described the speed and scale of the returns as unprecedented and warned that Afghanistan was being pushed close to the brink.
The pressure is particularly severe because many returnees have spent years or even decades outside Afghanistan. Some were born in Pakistan and have little practical connection to the country to which they are being sent.
UN-linked reporting also highlights the strain on food, shelter, healthcare and employment. AP reported that many families in high-return areas have resorted to negative coping strategies such as skipping meals, borrowing money or selling possessions.
Human rights groups warn of further risks
Human Rights Watch has raised concerns about the treatment of Afghans during the deportation campaign.
The organisation said refugees have reported arrests, alleged demands for bribes, confiscation of belongings and family separations. It also warned that certain groups — including journalists, activists and people associated with Afghanistan’s former government — could face serious risks after being returned.
Doctors and aid organisations are also concerned that fear of arrest is preventing some Afghan refugees from seeking healthcare in Pakistan, including for children.
That creates another layer to the crisis: people are not simply deciding whether to migrate. For some families, the choice is between remaining in hiding in Pakistan or returning to a country where they may have limited housing, employment, healthcare or social support.
The economic fallout is spreading across the border
The confrontation is also damaging trade.
CNA reported that cross-border commerce has been severely disrupted since clashes and reciprocal restrictions intensified, leaving businesses with losses and shipments stranded. Afghanistan has increasingly looked toward alternative routes through Iran and Central Asia.
AP reported this week that Afghan grape farmers have been hit particularly hard by border closures, with exports to Pakistan collapsing and some producers forced to process grapes into raisins instead.
That illustrates how the political dispute is spreading beyond refugees and security forces — into farms, transport networks, markets and ordinary households.
A dangerous question now hangs over the region
Pakistan insists that its security concerns cannot be ignored. Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, meanwhile, have objected to the treatment and forced return of Afghans and deny harbouring militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan.
Previous attempts at dialogue have produced limited relief.
Reuters reported in April 2025 that Pakistan had expelled more than 80,000 Afghans since the end of March, while Taliban officials publicly expressed concern over forced deportations. The two sides also discussed security, border management and trade, showing how closely the refugee issue is tied to the broader relationship between Islamabad and Kabul.
The danger now is that deportations, militant violence, border clashes and economic restrictions could reinforce one another.
For Afghan families caught in the middle, the consequences are already immediate.
And as Pakistan tightens enforcement while Afghanistan struggles to absorb millions of returnees, the question is no longer simply how many Afghans will be deported.
It is whether the escalating pressure will deepen the very instability that both governments say they are trying to prevent.
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