US calls on Pakistan to accept Afghan refugees: ‘We strongly encourage’

The United States has appealed to Pakistan to permit Afghans seeking refuge to enter the country, Daily Times reported on Saturday.

A spokesperson from the US State Department emphasised the need for Afghanistan's neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, to facilitate the entry of Afghans seeking international protection and to collaborate with international humanitarian organisations to provide essential assistance.

"We strongly encourage Afghanistan's neighbours, including Pakistan, to allow entry for Afghans seeking international protection and to coordinate with international humanitarian organisations... to provide humanitarian assistance," a US State Department spokesperson stated on Thursday, according to Daily Times, an English-language Pakistani newspaper.

Pakistan has set a November 1 deadline for all undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghans, to leave the country or face forced deportation. Pakistan has stated that the deportation process will be organised and conducted in phases, with a potential start involving individuals with criminal records.

The move to expel illegal Afghan migrants has been deemed "unacceptable" by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

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Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have deteriorated over the past few years, primarily due to allegations that terrorists operating against the Pakistani state are based in Afghan territory.

The Taliban have denied these allegations.

A group of former senior US officials and resettlement organisations has called on Pakistan to exempt thousands of Afghan applicants for special US visas or refugee relocation to the United States from deportation to Afghanistan.

Approximately 1.73 million Afghans in Pakistan lack legal documentation. Islamabad has accused Afghan nationals of carrying out more than a dozen suicide bombings this year.

Pakistan has been hosting the largest number of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Kabul in 1979, with the total number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan estimated at 4.4 million, Daily Times reported.

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