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Amnesty international urges Pakistan to halt Afghan deportations

Amnesty International said that all Afghan nationals are required to leave the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi by 31 March

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Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Pakistan to immediately withdraw its “Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan”, which primarily targets Afghan refugees, ahead of the authorities’ 31 March deadline.

Pakistani government has asked all “illegal foreigners” and Afghan Citizen Card holders to leave the country before March 31, warning they would otherwise be deported from April 1.

Amnesty International said that all Afghan nationals are required to leave the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi by 31 March

It said that “arbitrarily and forcibly expelling Afghan nationals, including refugees and asylum seekers, will only add to their plight”.

“The Pakistani government’s unyielding and cruel deadline, which is less than a week away, to remove Afghan refugees and asylum seekers from two major cities, resulting in the deportation of many at risk, shows little respect for international human rights law, particularly the principle of non-refoulement,”  said Isabelle Lassée, deputy regional director for South Asia at Amnesty International.

The exact details of the Pakistan government’s ‘Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan’ used for deportations has never been made public, but it comes amid a campaign to wrongfully demonize Afghan nationals as so-called criminals and terrorists, Amnesty said.

Isabelle Lassée said that the Pakistani government is only making “a scapegoat of a community that has long been disenfranchised and fleeing persecution.”

Human rights lawyer Moniza Kakar pointed out that forcing Afghan refugees to relocate even within Pakistan is devastating for families. “Many PoR card holders are people who’ve been here for decades, asking them to relocate means you’re asking them to leave homes, businesses, communities and lives they’ve built for years,” she said. 

Lawyer Umer Gillani, who has challenged the deportation orders in Pakistan’s Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court, argued that the March 31 deadline was not legally enforceable. “The official notification has not been issued under any particular law; it is just an executive instruction,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported a sharp decline in Afghan returns and deportations during the first half of March. Between March 1 and 15, returns dropped by 67 per cent, while deportations fell by 50 per cent compared to the previous reporting period (February 16-28).

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Four members of one family killed in Helmand in Pakistan airstrike

The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.

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Four members of a family were killed and seven others wounded in an airstrike in Safar area of Garmser district in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, according to local reports.

The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.

The bodies of those killed and the wounded were transported by helicopter to Ghazni province for burial and medical treatment, according to the reports.

 

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UNAMA acting chief visits Islam Qala border to assess support for returnees

UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.

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Georgette Gagnon, UNAMA’s acting head, visited western Afghanistan, including the Islam Qala border crossing, to see firsthand UN efforts to support millions of Afghans returning from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

Earlier this year, the UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.

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Trump: Unlike Afghanistan, US took all equipment from Iraq

Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.

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US President Donald Trump on Wednesday compared the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq with the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying military equipment had been left behind in Afghanistan, while US forces leaving Iraq took their equipment with them.

Speaking at a White House event, Trump referred to the final departure of US-led coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq, which marked the end of the US military mission against Daesh in Iraq.

“I said, take a little longer. Take everyone. We left all of the equipment, if you remember, in Afghanistan. Everything was left behind,” Trump said.

“I said, ‘I want every screw taken. If there’s a screw lying on the ground, take it. If we have a canvas tent, take it.’ We took everything,” he added.

He also mentioned the August 2021 attack at Kabul airport that killed 13 US soldiers.

Trump said he had become acquainted with the families of the US service members killed in the attack and also highlighted those who were seriously wounded.

“What happened to those—to their children should never have been allowed to happen,” he said, adding that 48 wounded service members were severely injured and “never get mentioned.”

Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.

The US military announced on Wednesday that its forces and equipment had completed an orderly departure from Erbil Air Base, formally ending Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. The US-led mission began in 2014 to fight Daesh after the group seized large areas of Iraq and Syria. The US is continuing its counter-Daesh mission in Syria from a headquarters in Jordan.

Trump said the US had entered Iraq to fight the Islamic State and that the group no longer controlled a territorial “caliphate.”

“We came to fight a caliphate, and there is no longer a caliphate, so we are going home indeed,” he said.

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