'Don't have anything': Afghan migrants stranded after fleeing Pakistan

Benafsha and her six children huddle together on a ragged blanket between trucks piled high with their household belongings on the Afghan border, after fleeing potential deportation from Pakistan.

Her family, like thousands of others, slept outside near the Torkham border crossing and face the prospect of multiple nights in the cold, open air with limited access to food and water, waiting to register with Afghan authorities.

"Afghans have been kicked out of Pakistan and they've come here in winter, it's cold and there are a lot of problems here," the 35-year-old, four months pregnant with her seventh child, told AFP on Monday.

Pakistan border officials say more than 100,000 people have crossed into Afghanistan since the beginning of October, when Islamabad announced a November 1 deadline for the 1.7 million Afghans it says were living illegally in Pakistan to leave.

Numbers have surged at the Torkham crossing since Friday, Taliban officials and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said, leaving authorities and aid groups scrambling to process waves of returnees, many of whom have nowhere to go.

‘Emergency situation’

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The brightly painted truck Benafsha rented with two other families for 50,000 Pakistani rupees ($180) each -- a steep sum for most Afghans in their situation -- and packed to the brim with furniture, appliances and belongings will carry them part of the way to their province of origin, Kunduz.

"In Kunduz we don't have land, or a home, or work," said the woman, who was never documented in Pakistan despite living almost all her life in the country.

"We don't have anything there."

Taliban authorities have condemned Pakistan's actions, saying Afghans are being punished for tensions between Islamabad and Kabul and calling for people to be given more time to leave.

Samiullah Samoon heads up immigration registration at Torkham and said the crossing is facing "an emergency situation".

"Neither the Islamic Emirate nor NGOs... had preparations in place on such a scale. This situation was sudden," he said, citing issues of water and shelter.

The government has established commissions to address the issue, and announced a temporary camp would be set up several kilometres (miles) from the border for about 1,200 families.

Staff and technical reinforcements have also been sent to Torkham.

“The number of returnees is high, we have only forty people registering them and it takes time, that's why they are kept waiting here.”

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