The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.Afghan families wait to board into a bus to depart for their homeland, in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Friday the new policy is not aimed at Afghans only.Amnesty International asks Pakistan to keep hosting Afghans as their expulsion may put them at risk“We have been hosting Afghans refugees generously for the past four decades” when millions of them fled Afghanistan during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation, she said.
“As a matter of principle it is critical that no refugees be sent back without it being a voluntary and dignified return,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York on Wednesday. The developments come amid a spike in attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, who have hideouts and bases in Afghanistan but regularly cross into Pakistan to stage attacks on Pakistani forces.
Pakistan has long demanded that the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan cease their support for the TTP.