From war to hope to despair: The Afghan deportation crisis
Following the recent global crises and changing geopolitical dynamics, the vast majority of countries have swiftly reoriented their policies to align with their national priorities, placing them above all concerns. This turn could not have come at a worse time for Afghan refugees abroad.
Following decades of unremitting conflict, political instability, and prolonged downturn in the economy, countless Afghans were forced to leave their homes, seeking safety elsewhere.
It has scattered them from the farmland of their youth to the shores of neighboring Pakistan, Iran, distant countries in Europe, the Americas, and beyond. Despite battling various life-threatening situations, they haven’t entered the safe and stable future they had hoped for.
Many of them confront a new, cruel reality. They face detention, rejection, and the impending threat of mass deportation from the very countries they fled to with hopes of being granted refuge or finally taking a peaceful breath.
As nationalists and right-wing agendas gain momentum worldwide, sympathy and compassion for Afghan refugees are dwindling. Portrayed as security threats or financial burdens, the vulnerable Afghans are sent back to Afghanistan under legal and political guise.
The human rights impacts and consequences of these deportations are devastating, especially when considering rapidly worsening conditions of hunger, poverty, drought, and gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
From asylum to expulsion
Following the recent Iranian-Israeli conflict, Iran has unleashed a sweeping crackdown on Afghan refugees and rolled out a repressive drive to deport a vast number of Afghan refugees. This year alone, over 1.5 million have been purged, nearly 600,000 just in the past two months. As per reports, the Iranian authorities plan to deport up to four million Afghans by the end of 2025.
The deportations are taking place daily, often reaching a mammoth amount of 50,000 people in a single day. Refugees are seized without warning, forcibly removed from their homes and workplaces, denied their belongings and documents, and dragged to the border with no due process.
At crossings like Islam Qala, deportees, including women, children, and the elderly, are abandoned in the desert, where the temperature exceeds 50°C (122°F), without shelter, water, or medical care. Aid workers report soaring cases of dehydration, disease, and psychological trauma. A humanitarian crisis unfolds in silence.
Pakistan has also increased the deportations of Afghan refugees since April 2025. Over 1 million Afghans have been expelled from Pakistan. In just two weeks, nearly 60,000 were sent through the Torkham and Spin Boldak crossing points. Among them are many women, children, and individuals with valid Afghan citizen cards that allow them to reside legally in Pakistan.
Here is a YouTube video on the deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan.
The deportations have caused family separations, police brutality, and abuse. Human rights groups term it a clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits a country from sending refugees, asylum-seekers, and other individuals at risk to a country where their life or freedom may be threatened.
Moreover, Tajikistan has also forcibly deported some Afghan refugees since mid-July 2025, including those waiting to be resettled in a third state.
After the collapse of the democratic government in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghans were evacuated by the US to the temporary facilities in the UAE and Qatar, with the expectation that their documents would be processed for resettlement in the US.
In May, the Trump administration unveiled a plan to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS). This not only clouded the prospects for Afghans in the US but also raised uncertainty for Afghans stranded abroad in a third country, waiting for the processing of their documents.
Despite the dire situation in Afghanistan, some have been deported because their legal status and delayed resettlement were not clarified by the US. Advocacy groups call it a betrayal of US commitments to Afghans who risked their lives partnering with American missions.
In addition, in July, Germany and five other European Union (EU) nations — France, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Denmark — agreed to toughen asylum laws and restart deportations, including to Afghanistan. They have limited family reunions and tried to establish asylum procedures in non-EU states.
Moreover, under a program with Taliban coordination, Germany has recently returned 81 Afghans, potentially indicating future diplomatic ties for more returns. The Taliban, desperate to gain legitimacy, can use this collaboration to bolster their political standing.
To compound the crisis, the UK’s Ministry of Defence accidentally leaked an email that placed the lives of more than 250 Afghan translators in danger of Taliban reprisals. Despite the seriousness of this breach and the UK’s two-decades-long presence in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghan partners remain stranded, still awaiting resettlement through programs like the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
For Afghans who had helped the UK in Afghanistan confront serious threats at home and uncertainty abroad, the UK’s assurance of refuge intake becomes more fragile and elusive. The situation worsened further with the UK’s increasingly restrictive immigration policies, and right-wing pressure to curb and limit asylum cases intensified.
In addition to violating the principle of non-refoulement, these actions amount to collective expulsion, breaching Article 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and worsen Afghanistan’s humanitarian and socio-economic crisis by returning people to conditions of extreme poverty, insecurity, and lack of support.
Hunger and drought
After decades of relentless war, deepening socio-economic collapse, and political instability, Afghanistan now faces an even greater threat in the form of the climate crisis, marked by severe droughts, vanished and limited water resources, and extreme weather, forcing Afghans to leave their homeland for survival.
There are more than 15 million food-insecure Afghans, a significant majority of whom are being threatened by starvation.
Here is a YouTube video about climate change-related issues in Afghanistan.
Healthcare, education, and access to work are essentially nonexistent. With inflation, currency devaluation, and rampant poverty, the economy is completely devastated.
It is expected that more provinces will experience severe drought. The livelihood of the people will deteriorate further, particularly for those living in rural areas.
Time to decide and act
Tackling the dilemma of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers requires swift and coordinated action on multiple fronts. Governments must reduce bureaucratic delays, expedite resettlement programs, and uphold their commitments to meet the relocation targets.
Involved countries, such as the US, UK, EU members, Canada, and Australia, should agree on a multilateral approach to share the responsibility of resettling Afghans.
Crucially, deportations to Afghanistan must be halted immediately. The Afghan refugees are war survivors, scholars, human rights workers, and mothers, not political pawns. Governments around the world should not close their doors and deport them back to a land where fear, hunger, and apartheid reign.
Honoring the principle of non-refoulement, the Temporary Protected Status and humanitarian visas should be extended or established to provide legal pathways for vulnerable groups.
The moral decision is easy: do governments stand for human dignity and international norms, or do they trade them away for political gain? The time has come to decide whether to support those in need or to turn them away.
(GlobalVoices/NS)
This article is republished from GlobalVoices under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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