Afghans In Pakistan Snared in US Resettlement ‘Trap’

Afghan refugee Shakoofa Khalili had worked with an American NGO on child abuse intervention programs in Afghanistan before the country fell back under Taliban control in 2021. Afterward, she and her family, like thousands of others, fled the country to prevent losing their lives for working with the enemy.

Promised resettlement in the US, these individuals went to countries around the world to wait for their American visas. As many as 15,000 of these people crossed the border into Pakistan along with about 600,000 other Afghans. Many of those who were promised US visas are now in waiting in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and its twin city, Rawalpindi, because consular services are located there.

Nearly four years later, they are still waiting.

Now, a recent order by US President Donald Trump to suspend or possibly close the US Refugee Admissions Program and the Welcome Corps is halting efforts to resettle these refugees. It’s also leading to an effort by Pakistan to deport them.

Earlier this year, Pakistan began accelerating its 2023 plan to eject all “illegal” foreigners and created a specific plan for “Afghan nationals bound for 3rd country resettlement.” In the first phase, all Afghan nationals are to be moved out of Islamabad and Rawalpindi to foreign countries by March 31. Those not removed by that date will be sent back to Afghanistan. That includes the estimated 15,000 who are in Pakistan and have been approved for US resettlement. But their cases won’t be resumed until late April at the earliest.

That threat has forced Khalili and others into hiding, staying in safehouses in Islamabad, doing everything they can to stay out of sight of the police to avoid deportation.

“The Taliban views us as enemies, and we face the grim reality of arrest, torture, or death if we are forced back,” Kalili told CNN, recounting how her husband was caught by police but let go after the pleading of their 8-year old daughter. “This suspension (of the visa program) denies us the shelter and protection we were promised, leaving us vulnerable to unimaginable consequences and at the mercy of the Taliban.”

“For us, who worked alongside the United States, returning to Afghanistan is not just a risk, it is a death sentence.”

Over the past 40 years, millions of Afghans have taken refuge from conflict in their homeland in Pakistan, first during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, then after the first Taliban takeover in the mid-1990s, and again after August 2021.

As a result, Pakistan has one of the largest refugee populations in the world, with an estimated 3 million Afghan refugees, with about half officially registered. For decades, the country has wanted them to leave.

For example, in 2016, Pakistan caused an international outcry when it said it would deport millions of Afghans, even those who had lived there legally for decades or had been born there.

Since 2023, it began to crack down on Afghan refugees again to increase pressure on the Taliban to curb militant attacks in Pakistan – Afghanistan supports the Pakistani Taliban. As a result, hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees have already left Pakistan.

In January, it deported about 800 Afghans, including women and children, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The two international organizations said those forced to return face retribution from the Taliban – especially ethnic and religious minorities, women and girls, journalists, human rights activists, artists, and musicians.

But no Afghan deportee faces more danger than those who worked with the US military or Western civilian organizations.

“For many, (the US refugee assistance program) was the only viable path to safety,” said Shawn VanDiver, a US Navy veteran and founder of #AfghanEvac, a coalition that works to resettle Afghan refugees. “With the pause, that door has slammed shut.”

“We must act to protect those who risked everything for our shared values,” he added.

US veteran groups have been pressuring the US for more than a decade to honor their resettlement promises to those Afghans, like Mohammad, who served alongside them, saying they couldn’t have done their jobs without their Afghan counterparts. It’s estimated that at least 50,000 of those individuals are still in Afghanistan, trying to leave.

Mohammad helped guard detainees at a US air base in Afghanistan, making him a prime target for the Taliban, should they find him. He has been waiting for his US visa for years.

These days, he and his family live in a Pakistani slum, praying that the visa will come through and the police will not find them first. In the meantime, he and his family do what they can to survive, only able to eat once a day, with help from sympathetic locals.

“My situation is no good,” he told Time magazine. “We have no money for food or medicine.”

Still, he adds, he’s better off right now than his brother in Afghanistan, who was recently shot in the face. Mohammad says that he is sure the gunmen made a mistake and that the bullet was meant for him.