President Donald Trump’s administration plans to deport more than 150 Afghan immigrants back to Afghanistan via Pakistan, US media reported Friday, a move advocacy groups say could endanger their lives.
After regaining power, Taliban authorities announced a general amnesty for Afghans who worked with Western-backed forces and governments.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants responsible for deadly attacks on its territory, an allegation the Taliban government in Afghanistan denies.
Pakistan’s government earlier this year ordered law enforcement nationwide to arrest Afghan citizens without visas as part of a years-long repatriation policy that has pushed back millions of Afghans who fled their homes after the Taliban returned to power.
Among those expected to be deported are relatives of Afghans who assisted the US military in the country prior to the fall of Kabul, according to AfghanEvac, a group seeking to help former Afghan allies. “America is about to put Afghans on a plane to the Taliban, and the administration is doing it the week the country goes to vote, hoping no one is watching,” AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver said in a statement, referring to the US midterm elections on Tuesday. VanDiver said some of the migrants facing removal “are the brothers and sons of men who served alongside U.S. forces, families the Taliban already has every reason to target.”
