GENEVA — Prominent Afghan political leaders and rights advocates are denouncing what they describe as a troubling shift in Swiss asylum policy, after reports emerged that Switzerland is considering the deportation of Afghan asylum seekers based on ethnic identity, particularly targeting Pashtuns.
Afghanistan’s mission to the United Nations in Geneva confirmed in a statement that it has raised concerns with Swiss migration authorities and is awaiting an official response. “There is no formal policy regarding deportations based on ethnicity,” said Nasir Ahmad Andisha, the acting head of the Afghan mission, adding that such a move would conflict with “the spirit of international migration conventions and human rights principles.”
The backlash follows a report by the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung, which cited internal documents suggesting that Swiss authorities are weighing a shift in repatriation strategy. According to the report, senior officials at Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) have proposed prioritizing the return of Pashtuns to Afghanistan, arguing that — as members of the same ethnic group as the Taliban — they may face lower risks upon return.
But critics warn the plan would amount to collective punishment and ethnic profiling.
“This would represent a grave violation of the 1951 Geneva Convention and the foundational principles of the U.N. refugee system,” said Rahmatullah Nabil, former head of Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security. “To expel people not for what they’ve done, but for who they are, echoes the darkest moments in Europe’s own history — when identity itself was treated as a crime.”
Nabil and other Afghan officials are calling for immediate clarification and rejection of any policy that explicitly or implicitly ties ethnicity to grounds for deportation. “Such a precedent would not only be morally indefensible, but legally prohibited,” he added.
Former Vice President Amrullah Saleh and former National Security Advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta also issued strong condemnations. “This is not just a violation of international law,” Spanta said. “It’s a clear act of racism. Victims of Taliban tyranny — regardless of ethnicity — deserve protection, not punishment.”
The Green Trend (Rawand-e Sabz), a political movement led by Saleh, released a statement asserting that “not all Pashtuns are Taliban” and warned against ethnic generalizations that conflate an entire population with an armed group. “Pashtuns have paid an enormous price in resisting Taliban rule,” the group noted. “Treating them as indistinguishable from their oppressors is unjust and historically ignorant.”
The statement also warned of the Taliban exploiting such narratives to legitimize their rule internationally as supposed representatives of the Pashtun people — a claim the group has long promoted.
Reactions have come not only from political elites but also from civil society and Afghan refugees themselves. Ali Jan Khushi, an Afghan asylum seeker in Switzerland, told local media that “even Pashtuns who fled the Taliban face retribution upon return. The regime punishes those it sees as disloyal, regardless of ethnic ties.”
Swiss migration authorities have not publicly confirmed the proposal, but some right-wing political parties in Switzerland have endorsed the idea as a response to recent public safety concerns following violent incidents involving Afghan nationals in Germany.
Meanwhile, Swiss Socialist Party lawmaker Céline Widmer warned against any such policy, saying forced returns to the “terrorist Taliban regime” are unacceptable and would expose returnees to torture and persecution.
Experts say the plan faces serious legal and logistical obstacles — including the challenge of determining ethnic identity and the impossibility of guaranteeing the safety of returnees, even those who are Pashtun.
As pressure mounts from both sides of Switzerland’s political spectrum, critics argue that the country must not abandon its humanitarian obligations in pursuit of short-term political gain.
“Refugee protection,” Nabil said, “relies on rejecting collective punishment in all its forms. The world should not forget that.”
