WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump's administration plans to deport more than 150 Afghan immigrants back to Afghanistan via Pakistan, US media reported Friday, a move advocacy groups say could endanger their lives.
Trump last year issued travel bans for a number of countries, including Afghanistan, as part of a broad immigration crackdown, and sought to end deportation protections for Afghans, some of whom were granted special immigrant visas following the August 2021 takeover by Taliban authorities.
More than 150 Afghan immigrants are expected to be deported in the latest push, The New York Times reported, citing three unnamed US officials, and the first flight could leave as soon as Monday.
Among those expected to be deported are relatives of Afghans who assisted the US military in the country prior to the fall of Kabul, according to AfghanEvac, a group seeking to help former Afghan allies.
While the United States cannot arrange deportations directly to Afghanistan, the officials told the Times that Pakistan will oversee their expulsion to Afghanistan.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to comment on the report when asked about it at a briefing Saturday during a gathering of G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta, advising journalists to ask the Department of Homeland Security.
Pakistan's government earlier this year ordered law enforcement nationwide to arrest Afghan citizens without visas as part of a years-long repatriation policy that has pushed back millions of Afghans who fled their homes after the Taliban returned to power.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fraught since the Taliban authorities took power in 2021, and worsened after deadly border clashes last October that led to near-total closure of the border.
Clashes subsided after mediation, but the conflict intensified again in February, with Pakistan declaring "an open war" on its neighbor.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants responsible for deadly attacks on its territory, an allegation the Taliban government in Afghanistan denies.
Taliban authorities were not immediately available for comment. The US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions from AFP.
"America is about to put Afghans on a plane to the Taliban, and the administration is doing it the week the country goes to vote, hoping no one is watching," AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver said in a statement, referring to the US midterm elections on Tuesday.
VanDiver said some of the migrants facing removal "are the brothers and sons of men who served alongside U.S. forces, families the Taliban already has every reason to target."
"Whatever path brought them here, the danger waiting for them is the same."
After regaining power, Taliban authorities announced a general amnesty for Afghans who worked with Western-backed forces and governments.
However, the United Nations has recorded reports of extrajudicial killings, detentions and abuses.
