Pakistan has deported more than 2,600 Afghan migrants in a single day, highlighting the accelerating pace of forced returns from neighboring countries amid growing pressure on undocumented Afghans.
The so-called High Commission for Migrant Affairs, operating under the Taliban authorities, said Pakistani officials deported 2,628 Afghan migrants on Sunday. Those expelled were returned to Afghanistan via the Torkham and Spin Boldak border crossings.
According to figures released by the same body, Iran also deported 199 Afghan migrants on the same day. They were transferred back into Afghanistan through the Islam Qala and Pul-e Abrisham border points.
Taliban officials said all migrants deported from Pakistan and Iran lacked valid residency documents. They added that both countries are detaining and deporting thousands of undocumented Afghan migrants every day as part of ongoing security and enforcement measures.
Last week, the spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Refugees said more than three million Afghan migrants have been forcibly returned from neighboring countries since the beginning of the current year. Abdul Muttalib Haqqani stated that the vast majority of those deported were expelled from Pakistan and Iran.
In a related development, investigations conducted by Afghanistan International television channel found that some Afghans forcibly returned from Iran were subjected to arbitrary detention, torture and extrajudicial killings after their return. Documented cases point to a repeated pattern of violence against returnees, with families of victims holding the Taliban responsible for what happened to their relatives.
Meanwhile, Pakistan and Iran continue to forcibly expel Afghan refugees on a daily basis. According to a daily report published by the secretariat responsible for migrant affairs, 2,370 people returned to Afghanistan in one day alone. The report was shared on X by Mullah Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson for the Taliban, and cited by the Afghan news agency Pajhwok.
The report said 501 families, totaling 2,370 individuals, returned from Iran and Pakistan on Friday. Returnees entered Afghanistan through several border crossings, including Islam Qala in Herat, Pul-e Abrisham in Nimroz, Spin Boldak in Kandahar, Bahramcha in Helmand and Torkham in Nangarhar. Taliban officials said the families were resettled in their areas of origin, with 742 families receiving additional assistance. A day earlier, another 2,400 Afghan refugees were also forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan.
Separately, a Taliban court in Paktika province has overturned a death sentence previously issued against schoolteacher Abdul Aleem Khamoosh, who had been accused of “insulting the Prophet of Islam”, according to local sources cited by Afghanistan International on Sunday. The court reportedly concluded that the accusations against him were unfounded.
Relatives of Khamoosh confirmed that he has returned from the provincial center of Paktika to the Jani Khel district, where he has rejoined his family. He had previously been arrested in Jani Khel following comments made during a lesson on the importance of modern education, local sources said.
According to those sources, members of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice detained him before a death sentence was later issued. The teacher was accused after telling students that modern sciences were more important than religious education.
Earlier, a spokesperson for the same ministry said Khamoosh was detained following complaints from religious scholars and morality police officers in Jani Khel, and that after what the ministry described as a confession, he was referred to court. A primary court in Paktika subsequently sentenced him to death on charges of insulting the Prophet Muhammad and Islamic sanctities.
Khamoosh’s relatives strongly denied the accusations, saying he never insulted the Prophet or Islamic values and that his prosecution stemmed solely from his emphasis on the importance of modern science and contemporary education.
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