Female Afghan refugees facing legal limbo, deportation in Pakistan

Female Afghan refugees in Pakistan protest in Islamabad on March 8, 2025, against Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban regime, which has deprived them of their human rights

Tens of thousands of female Afghan refugees face uncertain futures in Pakistan, caught between a homeland where the Taliban has deprived them of their human rights and the legal limbo of their temporary home, which is becoming increasingly hostile and threatens deportation.

Since the hardline Islamist Taliban regime’s return to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, it has issued edicts restricting women’s opportunities in education, employment and public life.

Many who had fought for women’s rights, including activists, journalists and former government officials, were forced to flee.

The Afghan women, as well as their male allies, turned to Pakistan to provide refuge or a pathway to resettlement in a third country.

Around 1.35 million Afghan refugees were registered in Pakistan as of December, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, while an equivalent or higher number are believed to be in the country illegally.

The refugees have faced myriad challenges in Pakistan, a non-signatory to the U.N.’s 1951 Refugee Convention.

Just one hurdle in their path is the decision by the administration of President Donald Trump that saw refugee admissions halted right after his inauguration in January, preventing Afghans from seeking asylum in the United States.

Farkhunda Muhibi fled to Pakistan in October 2023. She is among the Afghan refugees in the country who applied for resettlement in the United States but have seen those hopes dashed by Trump’s return to the White House.

The 23-year-old, who had worked as a journalist in Afghanistan, lives with five family members near Islamabad and makes ends meet by working for a U.S.-based media outlet providing coverage of issues faced by Afghan refugees in Pakistan, including demonstrations against the Taliban’s denial of women’s rights.

She recalled her work in her home country and said, “Female reporters like me were not allowed to sit in front seats at a press conference” after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

Muhibi said that in Afghanistan, she had been reporting on women’s demonstrations against restrictions on their rights.

However, she was forced to sign a pledge that she would not cover the protests again after being detained by police in December 2021.

“The Taliban still contact me through communication apps,” Muhibi said, while defiantly adding, “Fear makes me stronger.”Yet she worries about deportation as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said in late February that Afghans not accepted for resettlement by the United States would be forcibly repatriated.

Many of the estimated 20,000 Afghans in Pakistan awaiting resettlement in the United States are former human rights activists or those who worked with U.S.-led international forces stationed in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021.

Pakistan lacks a formal framework to grant refugees legal protections, leaving many unable to access education, employment or even basic healthcare. Their undocumented status has exposed them to harassment and exploitation, according to local media reports.

Since 2023, Pakistan has been carrying out mass deportations of undocumented Afghans. Between Sept. 15, 2023, and Jan. 31 this year, around 824,200 were forced to return to Afghanistan, according to UNHCR.

For government employees like Humaira Alim, deportation means facing threats of persecution by the Taliban. The 35-year-old fled to Pakistan in December 2022 after the regime began detaining former government officials.

She currently lives in Islamabad with her husband, two sons and mother-in-law.The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has reported cases of maltreatment and torture of former refugees forced to return to the country. The international community has repeatedly urged Pakistan to halt deportations.

Alim said her application for resettlement in the United States was rejected due to insufficient documentation.

“Please give us a chance to live,” she said in an emotional call for Pakistani authorities not to deport her and her family. “All we ask for is a safe place to live.

“On March 8, International Women’s Day, a spokesman for the Taliban government said it assumes “full responsibility” for safeguarding the rights of Afghan women under Islamic Sharia law, adding the rights within the context of an Islamic and Afghan society differ from that of Western societies.

On the same day, the United Nations in Afghanistan called on the Taliban government to lift restrictions on Afghan women and girls, with Alison Davidian, Special Representative for U.N.

Women Afghanistan, saying, “We cannot accept a future for Afghan women and girls that we would never tolerate for women anywhere else.”