A significant step has finally been taken by Pakistan, with the federal government deciding to begin the repatriation of all Afghan refugees without further delay. The provinces have been informed that the formal deportation of over 1.3 million Afghans holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards will commence on September 1, 2025.
This decision follows the interior ministry’s July 31 announcement that PoR cardholders — the last category of Afghans legally residing in Pakistan without visas — became unlawful residents after their cards expired on June 30, 2025. To implement this plan, the ministry issued a directive on August 4 to the chief secretaries and police chiefs of the four provinces, as well as to Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, outlining the roadmap for the ongoing Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP).
According to the letter, voluntary returns are to begin immediately, while formal repatriation and deportation will take effect from September 1. The Nadra will handle the deregistration process at transit points and border terminals, while the FIA will assist at designated crossings. Provincial governments and relevant agencies have been tasked with mapping all PoR cardholders, setting up transit areas for deportees, and arranging transportation and financial support.
For over four decades, Pakistan has repeatedly extended the stay of millions of Afghan citizens and refugees. Extensions were often granted every six months by the federal cabinet and the interior ministry, creating the impression among both Pakistanis and Afghans that these refugees would remain in Pakistan permanently. Even after Pakistan’s October 2023 announcement that all illegal Afghans must leave within a month, only unregistered Afghans were targeted, while those holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACCs) or PoR cards were allowed to stay. This led many observers to believe that registered Afghan nationals would be permitted indefinite residence.
According to UNHCR figures, by June 30, 2025, more than 1.3 million Afghans remained in Pakistan. Of these, 717,945 lived in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 326,584 in Balochistan, 195,188 in Punjab, 75,510 in Sindh, and 43,154 in Islamabad. Despite hosting the largest share of Afghan refugees, KP’s PTI-led provincial government, particularly Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, has opposed their forced repatriation — a stance that has complicated Islamabad’s efforts to enforce its 2023 policy.
It is heartening to note that the PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has finally recognized the pressing need to repatriate millions of Afghans due to the involvement of many Afghan nationals in terrorism, subversive activities, and criminal networks across the province. The shift in stance is evident from a series of concrete measures recently taken by the provincial authorities.
A key step was the meeting of the KP Provincial Steering Committee (PSC) on the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP). According to the minutes, the committee directed district administrations, police, and the Special Branch to form teams and hold jirgas with Afghan elders to encourage voluntary repatriation. Deputy commissioners were also tasked with remapping PoR cardholders, while the Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees was advised to de-notify refugee camps as they no longer served any purpose. Following this, the provincial government issued large advertisements in national newspapers urging Afghans to leave voluntarily, as their stay had become illegal after the expiry of PoR cards on June 30, 2025.
These measures underscore that this time Islamabad is unlikely to backtrack on its decision to repatriate Afghan refugees. Interestingly, Pakistan’s recent improvement in diplomatic relations with the Afghan Taliban regime — which has shown some willingness to restrain the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — had raised expectations that Islamabad might soften its stance. However, the government has maintained its firm position, which is both encouraging and necessary.
By 2023, nearly 4.4 million Afghans were living in Pakistan, legally and illegally. Since November 2023, around 800,000 have reportedly returned. At present, Pakistan still hosts about 0.8 million Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, 1.3 million PoR cardholders, 0.6 million undocumented Afghans, and an additional 700,000 who arrived after the Taliban takeover in 2021 — a total of more than three million individuals. For a politically and economically fragile country like Pakistan, this is an enormous burden and a grave security risk.
Over the past four decades, Afghan refugees — at one point reaching nearly 4.5 million, the largest refugee population in the world — have enjoyed unrestricted freedom of movement and activity in Pakistan. This has come at a high cost: economic losses, the spread of illegal weapons, the proliferation of extremist seminaries, and deep cultural disruptions. For years, policymakers tolerated this situation under the illusion of pursuing “strategic depth” in Afghanistan. That notion has long proved hollow, while the continued presence of millions of Afghans has created an existential threat to Pakistan. Many refugees have been exploited by hostile intelligence agencies, while others have developed hostility toward Pakistan itself. Their interaction with anti-state groups within Pakistan has only magnified the danger.
In this context, Pakistan’s decision to fast-track the repatriation of all Afghan nationals is not only timely but vital for its security, stability, and sovereignty. It marks a long-overdue correction of a policy that has cost the nation dearly for decades.