Kabul – The Taliban-run Ministry of Refugees announced that 230 Afghan nationals, recently released from Pakistani prisons, returned to Afghanistan on Saturday, May 24.
According to a statement from the ministry, these individuals had spent between one to two days in Pakistani detention facilities. While the Taliban authorities did not specify the reasons for their imprisonment, earlier reports from Pakistani media indicated that most arrests were due to a lack of legal residency documents.
These repatriated citizens entered Afghanistan through the Spin Boldak border crossing. Taliban have not yet provided overall statistics on the total number of individuals released from Pakistani prisons.
Findings from Amu, based on figures provided by the Taliban’s Ministry of Refugees, indicate that in the 10 days preceding this latest release (May 8 to May 18), 1,054 Afghan citizens had been freed from various prisons across Pakistan and returned to Afghanistan.
This ongoing repatriation comes as the Norwegian Refugee Council recently reported that over one million migrants have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan since the forced expulsion campaign began in September 2023. These returnees are arriving in a country currently grappling with severe economic collapse, widespread poverty, and significant protection challenges.
Furthermore, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s report predicts that approximately 600,000 more migrants are expected to be expelled from Pakistan and returned to Afghanistan in 2025, exacerbating the existing humanitarian crisis.
