As Pakistan continue to deport Afghan refugees, 100 Families on average cross Torkham to Kabul per day: Report

Dec 20, 2023

Kabul [Afghanistan], December 20 : As long as Pakistan is deporting Afghan refugees, 100 families a day on average are crossing into Afghanistan, according to officials at the refugee camps at Torkham Crossing, TOLOnews reported.
"We have prepared a system so that when the refugees arrive here, they are being provided with food assistance, clothes and jackets by the charity committee, and organisations and us. When they leave and go out from the exit gate, they are being provided with food and cash assistance," said Iftikhar Mushfiq, deputy head of operations at the refugee camp at Torkham.
According to the officials, construction is still being done inside the camp.
Meanwhile, a few of the recently deported Afghans voiced concern that as the temperature becomes colder, so do their requirements.
"The government has promised to give us land, I hope it fulfills its promise," said Amrullah, a recent deportee, according to TOLOnews.
"The children are facing pneumonia problems. I have just had them in the clinic. We hope to be assisted with blankets and other materials. We don't have any place," another deportee, Gul Rahim said.
"We have nothing. I ask the government to help us and give us land to construct a home for ourselves," said Nabi Gul, a recent deportee.
On November 18, Taliban's Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, criticised certain neighbouring nations for deporting Afghan immigrants and urged them to deal with them lawfully.
The remarks were made by the Taliban officials at an event coinciding with International Migrants Day, as they highlighted the deportation of thousands of migrants from Afghanistan to Pakistan, Iran, and other nations in recent months.
"The expulsion of our Muslim brothers by the countries is an illegal decision and against fairness and good neighbourliness. The perpetrators failed to achieve the goals that were behind this persecution (expulsion)," Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar said, according to TOLOnews.
Earlier in November, the Pakistan caretaker government initiated a nationwide campaign to deport illegal foreign nationals, the majority of whom are Afghans.
Pakistan's decision prompted criticism from Afghanistan and several other nations, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported.
Of the more than four million Afghans living in Pakistan, the Pakistani government estimates that 1.7 million Afghans do not have documents. So far, thousands of Afghans have headed back to Afghanistan through the Torkham and Chaman border crossings.