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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&rsquo;s Ministry of Interior on Sunday directed all provincial governments, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration, and special area governments to immediately arrest Afghan nationals living in Pakistan without valid visas, effective July 10. In a notification, the ministry instructed all provincial governments, the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration, and the governments of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir to ensure the immediate arrest of any Afghan national found residing in the country without a valid visa. The order builds on decisions taken during a June 1 review meeting on the Illegal Foreigners&#39; Repatriation Plan (IFRP), where authorities were directed to accelerate the repatriation and deportation of Afghan nationals, including those who have overstayed their visas. The ministry directed chief secretaries to issue instructions to deputy commissioners, district administrations, police and other law enforcement agencies to ensure the policy is implemented uniformly across the country. &quot;With effect from 10th July, 2026, any Afghan national found residing in Pakistan without a valid visa shall be arrested immediately,&quot; the notification stated. According to the notification, chief secretaries have also been asked to submit daily reports to the interior ministry from July 11, detailing the number of undocumented Afghan nationals identified, the action taken against them, and their current status. Copies of the directive were sent to provincial police chiefs, the Islamabad police, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), the National Action Plan coordinator, and other relevant authorities. Deportation drive Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, but launched a displacement drive due to decades of conflict and upheaval. According to the Global Detention Project, the government launched the Illegal Foreigners&#39; Repatriation Plan (IFRP) in September 2023 to remove undocumented foreigners in three phases: first targeting undocumented migrants, followed by holders of Afghan Citizen Cards (ACCs) and, ultimately, Proof of Registration (PoR) card holders. The Global Detention Project says that during the first phase of the campaign, more than 468,000 undocumented Afghans returned to Afghanistan.

FILE: More than 10,000 Afghans living in Pakistan rushed to the borders on October 31, just hours before a deadline for 1.7 million people to leave Pakistan voluntarily or face arrest and deportation.(Photo by Abdul BASIT / AFP)

Security

The government has ordered authorities nationwide to begin arresting Afghan nationals without valid visas from July 10, requiring daily reports on enforcement.

Pakistan to arrest Afghan nationals without valid visas from July 10

ISLAMABAD: For communities living along Afghanistan&#39;s riverbeds, the floods came fast. But for the aid system meant to reach them, the money never did. Since late March, floodwaters have torn through 26 provinces, severing roads and cutting off delivery of food, medicine and clean water to some of the world&#39;s most vulnerable people, according to UNHCR&#39;s Emergency Flash Update #9, issued early April. At least 51 people have been killed, 114 injured and five remain missing, according to Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) field data published April 4. More than 2,634 families have lost their homes entirely. But the deaths and rubble only tell part of the story. The floods have damaged about 13,400 acres of farmland and killed 1,730 head of livestock, according to the ARCS report, destroying the harvests and herds that millions of rural families rely on to survive the coming months. Afghanistan was already hungry before the water came. Malnutrition exceeds emergency thresholds in 25 out of 34 provinces, according to the World Food Programme (WFP). The international organization warns that further destruction of farmland in designated hunger hotspots will push those numbers higher. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the country is confronting &quot;intensifying climate shocks&quot; on top of a hunger crisis already affecting 17.4 million people. In addition, flood damage to water and sanitation infrastructure has raised the risk of waterborne disease outbreaks across affected provinces. The UNICEF 2026 Humanitarian Appeal aims to reach nearly 16 million people with urgent water, sanitation and health services in response to these compounding emergencies; however, aid has fallen short of its goals. The system meant to deliver that response was already stretched to breaking point. In February, only 160,498 people received clean water and sanitation services, compared with a cluster target of 7.8 million, according to the Afghanistan WASH Cluster&#39;s 2026 report. Across all of 2026, only 304,290 people had been reached so far. The reason is money &ndash; or rather, the absence of it. The 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan requires $1.71 billion to address needs across Afghanistan but remains critically underfunded, according to OCHA. UNHCR alone requires $454 million for Afghanistan this year; as of the end of February, only 15% had been received. Further rainfall is expected, with the IFRC warning that it would leave thousands of already-devastated families at risk of a third wave.

An Afghan motorist wades across a flooded road during rainfall in Ghazni Province on April 1, 2026. (AFP)

Afghanistan

Floodwaters have torn through 26 Afghan provinces, severing roads and cutting off delivery of food, medicine and clean water to some of the world's most vulnerable people.

Floods have worsened Afghanistan's already broken aid system

BERLIN:&nbsp;Germany on Thursday deported 20 convicted criminals to Afghanistan under a new agreement reached with the Taliban government to allow direct expulsions, the interior ministry said. Berlin had already resumed deporting criminals to Afghanistan in 2024, using Qatar as an intermediary. But the agreement reached to enable Thursday&#39;s flight &quot;creates a reliable basis for direct and permanent deportations to Afghanistan&quot;, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said. Drug offences&nbsp;Those deported were men who had committed crimes in Germany, including sexual offences, bodily harm and drug offences, according to the interior ministry. &quot;Our society has an interest in ensuring that criminals leave our country. That is why we are acting consistently and expanding deportations step by step,&quot; Dobrindt said. Germany stopped deportations to Afghanistan and closed its embassy in Kabul following the Taliban&#39;s return to power in 2021. But it resumed them as part of efforts to take a tougher line on migration to counter the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Two flights&nbsp;Two deportation flights of convicted Afghans have left Germany since 2021: 28 were returned in autumn 2024 and 81 in July last year. Germany&#39;s interior ministry had announced last year that direct discussions were taking place with the Taliban authorities. No recognition&nbsp;But the talks are controversial because Berlin does not recognize the Taliban administration in Kabul. The interior ministry said it had been &quot;working intensively in recent months to enable direct repatriations to Afghanistan without the support of third countries&quot;. A ministry spokesman told AFP the deal was reached &quot;during technical talks held by the government with the de facto government of Afghanistan in autumn 2025&quot;. The EU has also initiated contacts with the Taliban government in Kabul to assess the feasibility of returns as it seeks to counter right-wing electoral gains across the bloc.

Germany stopped deportations to Afghanistan and closed its embassy in Kabul following the Taliban's return to power in 2021; but it resumed them as part of efforts to take a tougher line on migration.

Articles tagged with "Afghan Deportations"

Pakistan to arrest Afghan nationals without valid visas from July 10

Floods have worsened Afghanistan's already broken aid system

Germany deports 20 Afghans after deal with Taliban

Pakistan to arrest Afghan nationals without valid visas from July 10