Pakistan sets deadline for Afghan refugees after Trump's US blockade

Pakistan sets deadline for Afghan refugees after Trump's US blockade

Islamabad, Pakistan - Shakoofa Khalili was waiting for her husband to return from fetching bread from the market when she heard her eight-year-old daughter screaming from the balcony. The girl had seen police approaching her father on the street outside their safe house in Islamabad and ran straight towards them.

Family fleeing the Taliban regime

"(She) screamed and grabbed the police officer's hand, begging him to let her father go," Khalili told CNN as she recounted how her worst fears became reality. The family fled Afghanistan in 2022 to escape the Taliban regime - militant fighters who filled the power vacuum left by the withdrawal of the United States and its allies after a 20-year war.

Fear of deportation

Now the family fears being deported to Afghanistan after US President Donald Trump ordered the suspension of the US Refugee Admission Program (USRAP). This effectively closed the doors to refugees worldwide hoping for a path to resettlement in the United States. Shortly after the executive order was signed, the Prime Minister's Office of Pakistan outlined a three-stage repatriation plan for "Afghan nationals to be resettled in a third country."

The document, obtained by CNN, calls for foreign missions to coordinate the relocation of Afghan nationals from the capital Islamabad and the neighboring garrison city of Rawalpindi by March 31, 2025. If they are not removed by that date, they will be “repatriated to their home country of Afghanistan.” The plan affects Afghan nationals who have fled to Pakistan fearing possible reprisals from the Taliban because of their ties to the US and NATO troops.

For many Afghans, deportation is synonymous with death

Khalili is one of these people. In Afghanistan, she worked on a program to protect children from abuse funded by the U.S. Embassy. She was hoping for a US visa but is now stuck in Pakistan with no options to escape. "For us who have worked alongside the United States, returning to Afghanistan is not just a risk - it is a death sentence," Khalili told CNN.

This time her daughter's pleas worked for the police. Although father and child made it back to their safe home, Khalili's daughter has not spoken since. "Since this terrible incident, my daughter has fallen into a deep silence. She hasn't eaten for two days. At night she talks and screams in her sleep," Khalili said.

The situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Many Afghans who worked for the US and were unable to escape Afghanistan now live in secret, fearing for their lives. In a statement, the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, and the IOM, the International Organization for Migration, said the returnees fear reprisals from the Taliban - particularly ethnic and religious minorities, women and girls, journalists, human rights activists and members of creative professions.

Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, a leading coalition of resettlement and veterans groups, estimates that between 10,000 and 15,000 Afghans are in Pakistan awaiting visas or resettlement in the United States. In a post on

Pakistan's pressure on Afghan refugees

Pakistan is home to one of the largest refugee populations in the world - most of them come from Afghanistan. But the country has not always welcomed Afghan refugees warmly, instead letting them live in hostile living conditions for years and threatening deportations. According to UNHCR, more than 3 million Afghan refugees, including registered refugees and over 800,000 undocumented people, live in Pakistan.

Many fled the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s. A new generation made its way to Pakistan after the September 11 attacks, with changing numbers over nearly two decades of conflict. The Taliban's return to power in 2021 after the chaotic withdrawal of the United States triggered a new wave of about 600,000 refugees. In November 2023, Pakistan began a new offensive against Afghan refugees to pressure the Taliban to do more to counter militant attacks from Afghanistan.

According to the UNHCR, 800,000 Afghan nationals have since left Pakistan. The crackdown on those not registered with UNHCR or awaiting resettlement in a third country continues in phases, with thousands of Afghans seeking shelter in safe houses and slums to avoid repatriation to their home country.

Khalili and her family continue to hide in Islamabad and their despair grows. She told CNN about the risks she and others take "to support the United States' mission as interpreters, contractors, human rights defenders and allies." According to Khalili, the Taliban see them as enemies and they face the grim reality of arrest, torture or death if they are forced to return. “This suspension (of the visa program) denies us the protection and security we were promised and leaves us defenseless against unimaginable consequences, at the mercy of the Taliban.”