RASC News Agency: Data compiled from reports by the Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency indicates that Iran and Pakistan forcibly expelled 509 Afghanistani refugee families over the past week (December 7–13). According to the figures, Iran deported 374 families, while Pakistan expelled 135 families through a combination of “forced and voluntary” measures. Notably, the Taliban-affiliated agency has yet to disclose deportation statistics for Monday and Tuesday of the previous week. The expelled families reportedly returned to Afghanistan via border crossings in the provinces of Nangarhar, Kandahar, Nimroz, and Herat.
The data reveals that 57 families re-entered Afghanistan through the Torkham border crossing, while 78 families were expelled via Spin Boldak. Additionally, 134 families crossed the Silk Bridge border in Nimroz, and another 240 families returned through the Islam Qala crossing in Herat. During the preceding week (December 1–6), Iran and Pakistan had similarly expelled 674 Afghanistani refugee families, though figures for the last two days of that period were omitted from the reports. Among those deportations, Iran expelled 485 families, while Pakistan deported 189 families.
These forced expulsions occur against the backdrop of severe hardship faced by Afghanistani refugees. Many fled Afghanistan to escape the Taliban’s draconian rule, characterized by systemic injustice, ethnic and linguistic discrimination, arbitrary arrests, torture, poverty, unemployment, and relentless persecution. Their expulsion underscores the ongoing plight of Afghanistani refugees, both within Afghanistan and in neighboring countries, as they grapple with unrelenting oppression and instability.
