Respect obligations to Afghans, US tells Pakistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Biden administration has asked Pakistan to discharge its obligations to Afghan refugees and asylum seekers on its soil.

State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters the United States was in talks with Pakistani officials on actions against the Afghans.

About 2.8 million Afghan refugees, including 1.5 million documented and 1.3 million unregistered Afghans, are currently living in the neighbouring country.

Some 250,000 more Afghans nationals entered Pakistan following the Taliban’s takeover of country in August 2021, according to the UN refugee agency.

At a news briefing, Price said: “We encourage all states to uphold their respective obligations with regard to Afghan refugees and asylum seekers.”

The New Arab quoted him as asking countries, including Pakistan, to refrain from returning the Afghans to anywhere where they could face persecution or torture.

Since October 2022, at four Afghan citizens imprisoned for entering Pakistan without valid travel documents have lost their lives.

With relations between the neighbours strained on the issue, a large number of Afghan citizens are languishing in different Pakistani jails.

PAN Monitor/mud