The deportations of refugees continue from Pakistan but also from Iran, which sent back more than 13,800 people in just 10 days. Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are at an all-time low, while experts warn that refugee expulsions risk worsening the situation.

Kabul (AsiaNews) – The Taliban are giving returning Afghan refugees expelled from Pakistan an aid kit with food, tents, and a SIM card for their mobile phones, also to women, despite the fact that in the past they did not allow women to have one.

For Mohammad Najeeb Azizi, former chairman of the Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority, “This move seems driven by the government’s interest in collecting and centralising biometric data for identification, tracking, and surveillance purposes”.

Speaking to the Rest of the World, he added that, despite a worsening economic situation, Afghanistan's five telephone operators (four private and one public) have recorded positive growth and plan to build 450 new telecommunications towers, probably with Chinese aid.

This would not be the first time the Taliban have used SIM cards to track and collect information on Afghans.

According to the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, two years ago, the Afghan Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was told to prepare, in cooperation with the National Bureau of Statistics, a plan to register the biometric data of SIM card holders, with the stated aim of reducing crimes committed with unregistered SIM cards.

In addition, after their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban entered into agreements with the Chinese company Huawei to install surveillance cameras in several cities, with a focus on the capital, Kabul.

The Taliban repaid China with a recent statement regarding the elections in Taiwan. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) “is committed to 'One China' principle and considers interference in China's internal affairs provocative and detrimental to regional peace and stability,” a spokesman for the IAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on X.

The Taliban's concern for internal security is well-founded because of the frequent attacks by the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), the latest two days ago in Nimroz province; however, over the past few years, human rights groups have repeatedly pointed to the regime's increasing repression against civilians.

The first to be affected by the new policy are refugees forced to return to Afghanistan, not only from Pakistan, but also from other neighbouring countries like Iran, which has repatriated more than 13,800 Afghan refugees in the past 10 days, the border police reported.

Overall, some 520,000 undocumented Afghans have been deported in the past nine months, this according to Iranian media.

Even those who fled to Turkey said they do not feel safe and fear deportation to Afghanistan, where they would risk their lives for working with US-led forces during the 20-year war against the Taliban.

According to UN estimates, more than 1.6 million Afghans have left the country after the return to power of the self-styled Qurʾānic students, bringing the total number of refugees hosted in neighbouring countries to 8.2 million.

The fact that many Afghans are still waiting for visas from third countries seems to be of no importance, as evidenced by the expulsions carried out by Pakistan in recent months, after Islamabad ordered 1.7 million Afghans to leave Pakistan voluntarily to avoid deportation.

Pakistan’s interim government took this step ahead of elections on 8 February, hoping to put pressure on Afghanistan to reduce terrorist attacks by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban.

So far, 500,000 Afghan refugees have been expelled, leaving them in precarious conditions. The refugee camps where they are housed do not have adequate shelter, and food supplies are insufficient. Many returnees have been forced to leave their belongings even though many have lived in Pakistan for generations.

Predictably, there has been no improvement in the security situation, while relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are at an all-time low.

Islamabad has not only halted issuing visas to Afghans and curbed trade after the closure of the Torkham border crossing, but is also considering downgrading diplomatic relations with the Taliban regime.

Pakistan ended 2023 with the highest number of suicide attacks since 2014, with nearly a thousand killed.

According to many experts, the pushback on Afghan refugees risks further worsening relations between the two countries.

Afghanistan too faces its own terrorist challenge; on Sunday, the governor of Nimroz province, Sheikh Khalid Qasim, was targeted in an unclaimed attack.

According to several observers, however, it is very likely that ISKP was behind the event, while other sources point to a growing number of defectors leaving the Taliban to join the Islamic State.

• afghanistan
• pakistan
• refugees
• repatriation
• expulsions
• china
• sim cards
• mobile phones
• surveillance
• turkey
• attacks
• islamic state-khorasan province