‘Now they only deport’: Afghans trapped in Pakistan arrested and sent back after ‘open war’ breaks out

‘Now they only deport’: Afghans trapped in Pakistan arrested and sent back after ‘open war’ breaks out Journalists and activists who fled Taliban rule are living in fear as Pakistani police hunt and deport refugees after escalating cross-border clashes A t midnight on Saturday, Alma* stood at the check-in counter at Karachi airport in Pakistan with her husband and three-year-old son, holding tickets she believed would finally take the refugee family to safety. The Afghan journalist, who fled the Taliban in October 2024, had already been stopped from boarding two days earlier, on 26 February. Since they were flying with a tourist visa to a country in Africa, they had booked a flight from Karachi with a return leg that they did not plan to use. But the Pakistani officials at the airport refused to let them board. This time, they had booked flights with a return leg to Kabul. But again, officials from Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency refused to let the family board. “The officers told us to go back to Afghanistan and fly wherever we want to from there. They said we cannot fly to our destination from Pakistan.” Within hours, she and her family would also be turned away from a hotel because of their Afghan passports. Alma’s ordeal is unfolding as Pakistan declares itself in “open war” with Afghanistan after escalating cross-border strikes last month on Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan militants , also known as the Pakistan Taliban, which Islamabad accuses Kabul of supporting. Afghan refugees say the developments have triggered a sharp increase in police raids, arrests and deportations across major cities. For the millions of Afghans living in Pakistan – many of them journalists, activists or former government officials who fled Taliban rule – the rising tension is translating into fear at their doorsteps. Richard Bennett, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, says returning to their country will put them at “real risk of violent retaliatory attacks”. Mon...