1 million Afghan refugees trapped between hostile Pakistan and Taliban

More than one million Afghan refugees in Pakistan have been trapped between Taliban and Islamabad who is determined to push them into the jaws of harrowing life, Hamid Pakteen wrote in the Afghan Diaspora Network report. Afghans had been fleeing their home for decades, every time the war-torn nation went into conflicts, including at the height of the Cold War and the return of the Taliban.

Over the years, Pakistan has played a game of snakes and ladders with Afghans, the report said. The Afghan refugees first became an effective tool for Pakistan to have influence in Afghanistan and advance its strategic interest of keeping Kabul as its "strategic backyard," Afghan Diaspora Network reported.

Since the return of Taliban regime in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, more than 6,00,000 Afghans have fled to Pakistan, adding close to four million existing Afghan refugees, of which only 1.32 million people were registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Pakistan, which is facing an economic crisis is hell-bent to stop the Afghans from entering the country, pushing back hundreds of them each day, Hamid Pakteen wrote in the Afghan Diaspora Network. Earlier, the situation was different.

Refugees provided a counterbalance to Pakistan's Afghanistan policy, making Afghans an important tool in Islamabad's strategic planning, as per the news report. The refugees also helped Pakistan to counter adversarial moves from Afghanistan, including on the Durand Line.

Pakistan welcomed the Afghan refugees during the Soviet invasion which in turn helped Islamabad to get familiar with the Western military bloc. Afghanistan used Pashtun groups opposed to Pakistan to have its influence over Islamabad while the Pakistan Army played a game of providing weapons in 1975 to Panjshir province to overthrow the Afghanistan regime.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) used the Cold War scenario to make terrorist sanctuaries from the refugee camps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, as per the Afghan Diaspora Network report. After the Soviets left Afghanistan, the majority of Afghans had little interest in fighting with the Western armies and wanted to live a peaceful life.

Big cities in Pakistan, including Karachi and Peshawar, provided a home away from home and Afghans became part of the urban scape in Pakistan, the author wrote in the news report.

Islamabad even provided a convenient exit gate to Europe and the US for Afghans. However, the situation changed after 2001 and Afghans were no longer welcome in Pakistan. Pakistan started stricter monitoring of refugees and announced stricter detention and deportation policies and Afghans are being pushed back into the hell from where they had fled.

Earlier in March, more than 2,000 Afghan refugees had returned back to their nation from Iran and Pakistan, Taliban appointed Refugees and Repatriation Department announced, according to Khaama Press.

Taking to Twitter, the Refugees, and Repatriation department, on Saturday, said that 1851 Afghan refugees from Iran and 331 others from Pakistan came back home through Spin Boldak and Islamqala crossing points, as per the Khaama Press news report. According to the department, out of 331 refugees, 70 were the ones released from Pakistani prisons.