Thousands of Afghans flee Pakistan

Thousands of Afghans have crossed the border into Pakistan in recent days, the United Nations and Taliban officials said, as Islamabad ramped up pressure for them to return to Afghanistan.

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Pakistan last month set an early April deadline for some 800,000 Afghans carrying Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) issued by Pakistan authorities to leave the country, another phase in Islamabad's campaign in recent years to repatriate refugees.

Families with their belongings in tow lined up at the key border crossings of Torkham in the north and Spin Boldak in the south, recalling similar scenes in 2023 when tens of thousands of Afghans fled documented & ACC holders returned via Torkham & Spin Boldak crossings," the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a post on social media platform.

"IOM stands ready to scale up its response at key border points with forced returns expected to surge in the coming days," it said.