44,000 Afghans Approved for Relocation Remain Stranded in Pakistan

Three years after the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, over 44,000 Afghans approved for relocation to Western nations are still waiting in limbo in neighboring Pakistan, Dawn Newspaper reported yesterday.

In the chaotic aftermath of the NATO-backed government’s collapse in August 2021, more than 120,000 people, mostly Afghans, were airlifted from Kabul. However, hundreds of thousands more have since fled Taliban rule, with many promised new lives in the countries involved in Afghanistan’s 20-year occupation.

According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office, around 25,000 Afghans approved for resettlement in the United States are currently residing in the country. An additional 9,000 have been accepted by Australia, 6,000 by Canada, 3,000 by Germany, and over 1,000 by the United Kingdom – all still awaiting relocation.

Many of these Afghans were involved with the previous foreign-backed government and fear Taliban reprisals. With most countries having shut their Afghan embassies as Kabul fell, the processing of their cases has been hampered, leaving them in limbo in Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has pressed the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to address the backlog, urging the international community to recognize the burden Pakistan is shouldering by hosting such a large refugee population. Since the Taliban takeover, an estimated 600,000 Afghans have traveled to Pakistan, adding to the millions who had already fled previous conflicts over the past four decades.