Despite living in Pakistan for years and contributing to its economy, millions of Afghan refugees are being forced to go back to their war-ravaged home country.
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00:00This is Taj Muhammad's last meal in Pakistan.
00:05He is a father of five children and a coal worker.
00:09After calling Pakistan his home for over two decades,
00:14he is being forced to leave the country now.
00:17He is one of the hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees
00:21who are being deported by the Pakistani government
00:24back to their country of origin.
00:27I'd like to give them a little more than the other.
00:32I wanted the two of them here.
00:33I wanted them to give them advice or just cost us.
00:35I wanted them to make them about the two and the three.
00:38They want to make money more than the other.
00:41They want to make money, money, money and money.
00:48Islamabad is currently carrying out a huge drive
00:52to expel the roughly 4 million Afghans
00:54France who have crossed the border in the past four decades.
00:57Pakistan already deported over 800,000 Afghan refugees between September 2023 and the end
01:03of last year, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
01:19Mohammed has packed whatever he could to leave, but he does not know his final destination.
01:25For now, he is heading towards Landi Kotl, a temporary refugee camp near the Torkham border
01:31crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
01:33Afghanistan has been reeling from an economic and humanitarian crisis since the Taliban
01:56seized power in August 2021.
02:00Millions of Afghans have been facing not only hunger and food insecurity, but also extreme
02:06repression and human rights violations.
02:09Mohammed says his future in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan remains uncertain.
02:14Noor Khan is another Afghan refugee who is returning to his war-torn home country.
02:19The refugees are waiting in camps near the Torkham border crossing to be sent back to their homeland.
02:26We are urging the government of Pakistan to see the situation of Afghan refugees through humanitarian
02:28lens.
02:29We are urging the government of Pakistan to see the situation of Afghan refugees through humanitarian
02:33lens.
02:34We are urging the government of Pakistan and the de facto authorities in Afghanistan to discuss
02:46this issue so that the return is dignified and voluntary.
02:49So if they go back to Afghanistan in such a situation and if they don't have access to jobs, they could fall into the hands of wrong people, which could jeopardize the stability of the region.
02:56Rights groups have sharply criticized the Pakistani government for carrying out the mass deportations of Afghan refugees.
03:03Taj Mohamed worked tirelessly for decades in Pakistan's coal sector, an essential but grueling job that helped support the nation's economy.
03:10But as he faces deportations of Afghan refugees, they could go back to Afghanistan in such a situation and if they don't have access to jobs, they could fall into the hands of wrong people, which could jeopardize the stability of the region.
03:16Rights groups have sharply criticized the Pakistani government for carrying out the mass deportations of Afghan refugees.
03:23Taj Mohamed worked tirelessly for decades in Pakistan's coal sector, an essential but grueling job that helped support the nation's economy.
03:32As he faces deportation, the question remains, what awaits him across the border?