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Karzai urges neighbors to halt forced deportations amid Afghanistan’s refugee crisis
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called on regional countries to suspend the mass deportation of Afghan refugees, warning that the dire humanitarian and economic situation inside Afghanistan renders conditions unfit for return.
In a statement shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Karzai said: “While we understand the challenges host countries face due to the large presence of refugees, the worsening situation inside Afghanistan has created circumstances in which the necessary conditions for their return do not exist. Forcibly sending them back in the current situation would not only add to the existing burdens, but could also create greater risks and serious threats — a situation that benefits no one.”
Karzai specifically appealed to Iran and Pakistan—two of the largest host nations for Afghan refugees—to reconsider their recent moves to accelerate deportations. He emphasized the need for a more humane and measured approach, particularly given Afghanistan’s ongoing economic collapse, restrictions on women’s rights, and widespread instability.
“Our request and expectation from host countries is to reconsider their decision regarding the mass and forced deportation of Afghan refugees, especially in light of the ongoing challenges — particularly the economic hardships and the closure of schools and universities to girls,” Karzai said.
Karzai’s comments come amid a growing refugee crisis. According to officials in Kabul, more than 500,000 Afghan migrants have returned from Iran in the past month alone, many of them forcibly deported.
The figure, reported by Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi earlier this month, highlights the intensifying pressure on Afghanistan’s fragile infrastructure and social services.
The mass returns have overwhelmed border crossings in western provinces like Herat and Nimroz, where aid agencies have warned of insufficient shelter, food, and medical support for returnees—many of whom are women, children, or elderly.
Decades of displacement
Karzai also pointed to the historical context of Afghanistan’s refugee crisis. “The people of Afghanistan were first forced into involuntary and imposed migration nearly four and a half decades ago following the invasion of the former Soviet forces and continued foreign interventions,” he said. “As a result, they were compelled to leave their homeland and seek refuge in other countries—and this issue has only intensified in recent years.”
Host countries, especially Iran and Pakistan, have cited economic constraints, domestic political pressure, and national security concerns as reasons for accelerating deportations.
However, humanitarian groups including the UNHCR have urged these governments to respect the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the forced return of individuals to countries where they may face persecution or harm.
Karzai concluded his appeal by urging a cooperative regional approach that takes into account both the humanitarian needs of Afghan refugees and the practical limitations of host countries, but without resorting to mass forced returns.
The Embassy of Japan in Afghanistan announced on Friday that the country has allocated $19.5 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
In a statement, the Japanese Embassy said it hopes the aid will help bring positive change to the lives of vulnerable Afghans.
According to the statement, the assistance will cover the basic humanitarian needs of vulnerable communities in Afghanistan.
The embassy added that the aid will be delivered through United Nations agencies, international organizations, and Japanese non-governmental organizations operating in Afghanistan.
Japan’s total assistance to Afghanistan since August 2021 has reached more than $549 million.
Security forces at the Islam Qala border in Herat province prevented hundreds of young Afghans from illegally entering Iran.
Officials from the 207 Al-Farooq Army Corps said that around 530 people attempted over the past two days to illegally enter Iranian territory through areas of Kohsan district in Herat, but border forces detained them and transferred them back to their original areas.
Meanwhile, officials in the local administration of Herat said that due to severe cold along the illegal migration route to Iran, three Afghan migrants have lost their lives in the Kohsan district of the province, and a shepherd has also died there for the same reason.
Mohammad Yousuf Saeedi, spokesperson for the Herat governor’s office, said that some statistics and images shared on social media regarding the incident are not reliable.
According to him, further investigations are underway to determine whether any individuals have died on the other side of the border.
President Donald Trump suspended the green card lottery program on Thursday that allowed the suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on the social platform X that, at Trump’s direction, she is ordering the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the program, the Associated Press reported.
“This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” she said of the suspect, Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente.
Neves Valente, 48, is suspected in the shootings at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, and the killing of an MIT professor. He was found dead Thursday evening from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said.
Neves Valente had studied at Brown on a student visa beginning in 2000, according to an affidavit from a Providence police detective. In 2017, he was issued a diversity immigrant visa and months later obtained legal permanent residence status, according to the affidavit. It was not immediately clear where he was between taking a leave of absence from the school in 2001 and getting the visa in 2017.
The diversity visa program makes up to 50,000 green cards available each year by lottery to people from countries that are little represented in the U.S., many of them in Africa. The lottery was created by Congress, and the move is almost certain to invite legal challenges.
Nearly 20 million people applied for the 2025 visa lottery, with more than 131,000 selected when including spouses with the winners. After winning, they must undergo vetting to win admission to the United States. Portuguese citizens won only 38 slots.
Lottery winners are invited to apply for a green card. They are interviewed at consulates and subject to the same requirements and vetting as other green-card applicants.
Trump has long opposed the diversity visa lottery. Noem’s announcement is the latest example of using tragedy to advance immigration policy goals. After an Afghan man was identified as the gunman in a fatal attack on National Guard members in November, Trump’s administration imposed sweeping rules against immigration from Afghanistan and other counties.
While pursuing mass deportation, Trump has sought to limit or eliminate avenues to legal immigration. He has not been deterred if they are enshrined in law, like the diversity visa lottery, or the Constitution, as with a right to citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear his challenge to birthright citizenship.
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