Several Afghans who worked with the US and were told they were eligible for resettlement in the US were forcibly deported to Afghanistan from Pakistan, where they fled, to await prosecution following the Taliban takeover , in 2021, according to information obtained by CNN.
A man waiting for a US visa described being dropped off at the Afghan border by Pakistani police this summer. “They did not hand us over to the Afghan (Taliban) border forces,” he said. “They just released us at the border and told us to go back to Afghanistan. It was me, my four children and my wife deported together.” He now lives in hiding in the Afghan capital, in Kabul.
Another deported Afghan, also speaking from his hideout in Kabul, said: “This is very, very dangerous and it is very hard… How many people have been killed, tortured, disappeared?” he said. The man, a former employee of a US contractor, said the Taliban “will punish me, put me in jail. Maybe they will kill me? I’m sure they will. And he added: “Even so, we believe that the United States will help us. We believe that we have not yet lost hope.”
Both individuals spoke to CNN anonymously for their safety and provided documentation showing a US visa case number was being processed and evidence of their presence in Pakistan.
Many Afghans fled the Taliban after the fall of Kabul on August 15, 2021, to the hardline Islamist group. More than 124,000 Afghans were flown out of the country in a massive US-led operation.
However, thousands also fled across the border into Pakistan, often with incomplete paperwork, following US instructions that they must wait in a third country for their US visa applications to be processed.
Since then, nearly 90,000 Afghans have been resettled in the US, according to State Department figures, but many others have been caught up in the backlog of applications for so-called Afghan Priority 2 (P-2) or Special Immigrant Visas. (SIV) awaiting processing.
Human rights groups say the most dire situation is faced by those in Pakistan, from where hundreds of Afghans have been deported in an anti-immigrant campaign following recent political unrest.
At least two Afghans waiting for P-2 visas have been caught up in this crackdown, CNN has learned, and they are complaining about the Pakistani police persecution. Several others who still reside in Pakistan spoke to CNN about what they said was harassment by Pakistani police and the threat of deportation if they did not pay fines or bribes.
Pakistan’s Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs have not responded to CNN’s request for comment on the claims.
At least 530 Afghans have been deported from Pakistan so far this year, according to Haseeb Aafaq, a spokesman for the volunteer group Afghanistan Immigrant and Refugee Council. Aafaq said the figure came from studying local records of him, but added that it might be a low estimate as many Afghans were deported without documentation.
Aafaq added that the Pakistani authorities did not make exceptions for pending US visa cases. “There is no differentiation. The authorities here don’t even think about where you’re from. If you are an Afghan, you should be deported if your visa is invalid, be it SIV or P-2 or sponsorship cases.” He said many of the deportees are P-2 cases, but he was unable to provide a precise number as many Afghans keep their P-2 status confidential for fear of their safety.
Two young Afghans have taken their own lives in Islamabad since June, both awaiting US P-2 visas, according to activists. Aafaq said one of them, aged 25, who died last week, had suffered “mental and financial pressure and an uncertain future.”
Aafaq said the failure of the US to open a Resettlement Support Center (RSC) in Pakistan meant that the processing of the cases had partially stalled. “The RSC has not been activated yet, while in other countries, like Turkey or Tajikistan, people have gone to the United States,” he said.
Police repression of Afghans in Pakistan denounced
Afghans waiting in Pakistan have reported harassment by Pakistani police, including arrests and demands for money. One, who worked with the US Army and asked not to be named for his security, told CNN: “They were asking for a visa. There were many policemen, they entered the house without clear information. And they took me out of (my) house and they just put (me) in the van. My children were very harassed. They were crying, they were asking for help.”
He also described how he once saved his American colleagues during a protest and had letters of commendation denoting his service. “I am disappointed in the way I served the American people in Afghanistan. I was hoping they would welcome me there sooner. It seems that I have no future at all.”
The US State Department told CNN in a statement that the Biden administration “continues to demonstrate its commitment to the brave Afghans” who worked with the US. It added that its “prosecution capacity in Pakistan remains limited, but (the persona) is actively working to expand it.” The statement urged “Afghanistan’s neighbors” to “keep their borders open” and “fulfill their obligations” when it comes to asylum seekers. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry declined to comment.
Another Afghan, whom CNN is not naming for his safety, served the United States in Afghanistan and is now in Pakistan with his wife and children. He described his waiting for US aid as a “bad dream.” His wife sobbed: “Going back to Afghanistan is a great risk and we are dying here, every moment. Staying in Pakistan is a gradual death.”
