Leaked Taliban documents reveal 1,400 jailed women, 16,000 men

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Amu: A group of unidentified hackers has carried out a rare cyberattack on Taliban databases, leaking documents from 21 ministries and government agencies. The leaked records, published online, suggest that the Taliban has imprisoned approximately 1,400 women and more than 16,000 men. According to the documents, Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has also banned overseas academic travel without his direct approval and has placed travel restrictions on more than 8,000 former government employees, barring them from leaving the country. Click here to read more (external link).

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A sizeable amount of US money went into IEA’s pockets: John Sopko

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John Sopko

Ariana: John Sopko, former US special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, said on Wednesday that a sizeable amount of US taxpayers’ money went into the pockets of the Islamic Emirate. “We know it is going to continue because unfortunately we have nobody on the ground and the money is going through the UN, world food organization (WFP) and other international organizations, and we don’t really have good oversight,” Sopko told Fox Business. Click here to read more (external link).

UN sounds alarm over Pakistan’s new Afghan deportation plans

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Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 5, 2025

ISLAMABAD — The United Nations agencies focused on refugees and migration jointly voiced their concerns Wednesday over Pakistan’s plans to begin a new round of mass deportations of Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers.

The reaction came a week after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved a multistage plan targeting nearly 3 million Afghan citizens residing in Pakistan. They include legally declared refugees, documented as well as undocumented migrants, and those who are awaiting promised relocation to the United States and other Western countries.

The official plan seen by VOA mandates the immediate relocation of all Afghans from the national capital, Islamabad, and the adjacent city of Rawalpindi to designated camps before their repatriation to Afghanistan. The document emphasized without mentioning a timeline that no public announcement should be made regarding the deportations.

In a joint statement Wednesday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration, IOM, said they “are seeking clarity over the modality and timeframe of this relocation.”

Both agencies urged Pakistan to consider human rights standards when implementing relocation measures. This includes ensuring due process for legal refugees and economic migrants who have been granted Afghan Citizen Cards or ACC, by Pakistan in collaboration with IOM, the statement explained. Official estimates put the ACC population at more than 800,000.

“Forced return to Afghanistan could place some people at increased risk. We urge Pakistan to continue to provide safety to Afghans at risk, irrespective of their documentation status,” said Philippa Candler, the UNHCR country representative.

Mio Sato, the IOM chief of mission in Islamabad, said her organization is committed to working with the Pakistani government and UNHCR to develop a mechanism to register, manage and screen Afghan nationals in Pakistan.

“This will open the door to tailored solutions, including international protection to those in need and pathways for Afghan nationals with long-standing socioeconomic and family ties in the country,” she said.

In the first phase, the deportation plan requires authorities to relocate people possessing an ACC, along with undocumented Afghan migrants, from Islamabad and Rawalpindi and send them back to Afghanistan.

Pakistan has allowed more than 1.4 million legal Afghan refugees to remain in the country until June 30, 2025. The new plan requires their relocation from the two cities in the second phase without stating whether they will also be deported to Afghanistan.

Sharif has also ordered authorities to deport around 40,000 Afghans from Islamabad and Rawalpindi by March 31 in the third phase of the deportation plan and subsequently arrange for their repatriation if their relocation and resettlement cases to third countries are not processed expeditiously.

These individuals fled Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control of the country in 2021, primarily seeking shelter from potential retribution due to their affiliations with the U.S. and NATO forces.

Last month, President Donald Trump halted the U.S. Refugee Admission Program to assess whether reinstating it serves the interests of Washington, leaving at least 15,000 Afghan allies in Pakistan approved or being assessed for relocation to the U.S. in a state of uncertainty.

Since 2023, Pakistani authorities have forcibly repatriated more than 800,000 undocumented Afghans from its territory. The deportations resulted from a government crackdown on foreigners living in the country without legal permission or whose visas had expired. Islamabad has attributed a recent rise in crimes and militancy in Pakistan to Afghan nationals.

UNHCR and IOM said that they recognize the challenges Islamabad faces, especially in security, and that refugees, like all, must abide by Pakistan’s laws. “The overwhelming majority of Afghan nationals in Pakistan are law-abiding individuals whose situation needs to be seen through a humanitarian lens,” they said in their joint statement.

The two U.N. agencies expressed their particular concern for Afghan nationals who may face harm upon their return, including ethnic and religious minorities, women and girls, journalists, human rights activists and members of artistic professions such as musicians.

The Islamist Taliban leaders have placed sweeping restrictions on women’s access to education, employment and public life and have banned music in Afghanistan.

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Pakistan Sets Deadline For West To Relocate Afghan Refugees

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal and Rashid Khattak
February 5, 2025

ISLAMABAD — Afghan journalist Mahmood Kochai and his family had plane tickets to the United States, where they hoped to make a fresh start after spending more than three years in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

But their travel plans were canceled after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced that the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) would be suspended for at least three months starting on January 27.

Kochai is among the thousands of Afghans who had been approved to resettle in the United States. Once the family of five — Kochai, his wife, their daughter, son, and daughter-in-law — were cleared to take their flights, he resigned from his job with the Afghanistan International news channel.

Their temporary visas in Pakistan were to expire on February 5, and they say they now have no place to go.

“Everything is going from bad to worse,” Kochai told RFE/RL on February 4. “Afghan refugees in Pakistan are caught between a rock and a hard place: The [Pakistani] police are chasing us out of their country; it’s not safe for us to return to Afghanistan, and we cannot go to other countries.”

Adding to the Afghan refugees’ plight, Pakistan has decided to deport thousands of Afghan refugees awaiting resettlement in the West if the prospective host countries don’t relocate them by March 31, a source close to the government told RFE/RL.

The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on January 30, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly. The Voice of America and the Associated Press also reported on the decision, citing unnamed sources.

If implemented, the decision will affect Afghans in Pakistan who are seeking asylum in third countries because of their affiliation with U.S. and NATO forces and other Western and international organizations.

Tens of thousands of at-risk Afghans left for neighboring Pakistan fearing retribution after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, following the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan recently said that nearly 80,000 Afghan refugees have left Pakistan to be resettled in various countries, while about 40,000 are still in Pakistan.

That includes some 15,000 Afghans waiting to be approved for resettlement to the United States.

Left In Limbo

Journalist Ezzatullah Mahjur is waiting for a visa through the Special Visa Program (SIV) that has been available for Afghans who worked with the U.S. military as translators between the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 and the withdrawal in 2021.

He is hopeful the refugee resettlement process will eventually resume.

“Since the suspension of flights, some people who have gotten visas through the SIV have tried to reach the United States at their own expense. But some of them were turned back from Dubai, and I know at least one person who was turned away from a Washington airport,” Mahjur told RFE/RL on February 4.

It is not clear if the Trump administration will resume the resettlement program.

In his January 20 order, Trump said the secretaries of homeland security and state must submit a report every 90 days “regarding whether resumption of entry of refugees into the United States under the USRAP would be in the interests of the United States.”

Beside those waiting for relocation to the West, Pakistan also hosts about 1.45 million Afghan citizens registered as refugees with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Their stay in Pakistan has been extended until June.

Some 800,000 Afghans have either been deported or returned voluntarily to their home county since Pakistan began a major crackdown on refugees in November 2023.

Pakistan continues to track down and deport Afghans who are neither registered with the UNHCR nor awaiting resettlement to a third country.

Written by Farangis Najibullah with reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal

Copyright (c) 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

Taliban-Pakistan Border Tensions Escalate As Group Orders Evacuation Of Residents

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Afghanistan International: The Taliban has instructed residents in the border areas of Bahram Chah district, Helmand province, to evacuate due to the risk of intensified clashes between Taliban forces and Pakistani border guards, local sources have reported. Sporadic fighting between the two sides has reportedly been ongoing for the past two days along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. According to a local resident, both Taliban forces and Pakistani border guards have reinforced their positions in the area, with the Taliban urging civilians to leave to prevent casualties in the event of heavy fighting. Click here to read more (external link).

UN warns maternal deaths in Afghanistan may rise after US funding pause

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Ariana: A United Nations aid official said on Tuesday that Washington’s funding pause would cut off millions of Afghans from sexual and reproductive health services, and that the continued absence of this support could cause over 1,000 maternal deaths in Afghanistan from 2025 to 2028. US President Donald Trump last month ordered a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance, pending assessment of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy, setting alarm bells ringing among aid groups around the world that depend on US funding. Click here to read more (external link).

Rashid Khan breaks all-time record, becomes T20’s highest wicket-taker ever

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Rashid Khan

Ariana: Afghanistan’s super-star spin bowler Rashid Khan has notched up yet another achievement – this time he’s become the highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket ever. The 26-year-old Afghan went past Trinidad’s Dwayne Bravo’s tally of 631 wickets when he bowled Dunith Wellalage in the SA20 qualifier 1 against Paarl Royals in South Africa on Tuesday. “It’s a great achievement,” Rashid said after the match. Click here to read more (external link).

Taliban threaten to use US arms to thwart attempts to retake them

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Zabihullah Mujahid

Ayaz Gul
VOA News
February 4, 2025

ISLAMABAD  — The Taliban have warned that the military weapons left behind by the United States in Afghanistan now belong to them as “spoils of war” and will be utilized to defend against any attempts to reclaim them.

The statement marks the first official response from the internationally unrecognized government in Kabul to President Donald Trump’s pledge on the eve of his Jan. 20 inauguration to retrieve U.S. arms from the de facto Islamist Afghan leaders.

“The weapons that America abandoned in Afghanistan, as well as those provided to the former Afghan regime, are now in the possession of the Mujahideen [or Taliban forces] as spoils of war,” claimed Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, while participating in an X space session late on Monday.

“The Afghan people now own these weapons and are utilizing them to defend their independence, sovereignty, and Islamic system. No external force can compel us to surrender these weapons, nor will we accept any demands for their surrender,” Mujahid stated. “We will use these weapons to repel invaders who dare to seize them.”

U.S.-led Western troops were stationed in Afghanistan for nearly two decades to counter terrorist groups and protect the internationally backed government in Kabul at the time. They hastily and chaotically withdrew in August 2021, just days after the then-insurgent Taliban stormed back to power.

A U.S. Department of Defense report in 2022 found that about $7 billion worth of military hardware was left behind in Afghanistan after the military withdrawal was completed. The equipment, including aircraft, air-to-ground munitions, military vehicles, weapons, communications equipment, and other materials, was subsequently seized by the Taliban.

Trump stated in his pre-inauguration remarks at a rally in Washington last month that his predecessor, Joe Biden, “gave our military equipment, a big chunk of it, to the enemy.” He went on to warn that future financial assistance to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan would be contingent upon the return of U.S. military arms.

“If we’re going to pay billions of dollars a year, tell them we’re not going to give them the money unless they give back our military equipment,” Trump said then, without elaborating.

Mujahid, while speaking on Monday, rejected Trump’s assertions, saying the Taliban have not received “a single penny” from the U.S. in financial aid since regaining control of the country. He stated that Kabul has neither anticipated nor sought any assistance from Washington.

The Taliban have displayed U.S. military gear in their so-called victory day celebrations since returning to power in Afghanistan.

The U.S. troop exit from Afghanistan stemmed from the February 2020 Doha Agreement that the first Trump administration negotiated with the then-insurgent Taliban. Biden completed and defended the military withdrawal, saying the choice he had was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban.

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