Pakistan’s post-deadline Afghan enforcement drive deported approximately 8,400 people in the three days following the July 10 arrest deadline, with provincial governments now submitting mandatory daily reports to the Interior Ministry as the operation moves from voluntary departure to active enforcement (Amu TV; Pajhwok Afghan News).
Taliban figures from the returnee commission show approximately 2,940 Afghans were removed on July 9 alone — the last day before the formal arrest mandate took effect. The daily reporting requirement, which provincial governments, police commanders, and district administrations must now fulfil, is measuring volume: numbers identified, arrested, detained, and deported. The system’s structural incentive is to maximise the headcount.
In Peshawar, authorities are preparing to deport around 20,000 undocumented Afghans from the city in what would be the largest single-city removal in the current enforcement phase. Peshawar — which shares a border crossing with the Afghan province of Nangarhar and has deep historical Afghan community ties — holds one of the largest concentrations of undocumented Afghan nationals in Pakistan (Dawat Media).
Broader figures
More than 146,000 Afghans have been deported or departed Pakistan in 2026, and more than 2.4 million have returned since the Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan began in October 2023. The Taliban’s returnee commission noted 253 Afghan families also returned from other countries — Iran and Turkey — in the same period, indicating the regional pressure on Afghan refugees is not limited to Pakistan.
The enforcement shift, from voluntary departure to arrest mandate, is where Human Rights Watch’s concerns become most acute: its April 2026 report documented that police were processing UNHCR-registered refugees — who are supposed to be protected from refoulement — through deportation channels without verification. Daily reporting pressure, which rewards volume rather than legal process, increases the risk of shortcuts. The UNHCR has renewed its call for Pakistan to halt forced returns of registered refugees.
