1.7 million refugees in an irregular situation
Since October, more than 165,000 illegal Afghan immigrants have been forced to flee Afghanistan as the country is gripped by a major political, economic and security crisis. Today, as recalled, the illegal Afghan immigrant population in Pakistan represents about 1.7 million people Didier Chaudet, associate researcher at the French Institute for Central Asian Studies (IFEAC): “We have between 4 and 4.4 million Afghan refugees, including around 1.7 million illegals. Pakistan, like Iran, has hosted large numbers of Afghan refugees since the successive crises in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 1980s. For a certain number of refugees, Pakistan is their country: they were born there, married there, and had children there. Children and Sometimes I have never seen Afghanistan before.”
Growing xenophobia in Pakistani society
“For many people they are part of Pakistani life. They have integrated, but at the same time they belong to the poorest sections of Pakistani society. This has the particular consequence of promoting a feeling of xenophobia,” he explains Didier Chaudet. In addition, Afghans are associated with the rise of the TTP, the Pakistani Taliban party that attacks the legitimacy of the Pakistani state, as well as certain terrorist attacks allegedly committed by Afghans. “This rejection of the Afghan presence in Pakistan is therefore also linked to a security issue,” adds the Afghanistan specialist.
The future fate of Afghan refugees
The economic and security situation in Pakistan would not allow the regime to maintain this immigrant presence in the territory, it is said Didier Chaudet. “A large proportion of these irregular residents are being sent back. There is really no other solution, but things can be different if the international community helps Pakistan deal with this influx of refugees,” he says. Finally, the Afghan Taliban take an ambivalent position: despite a certain anti-Pakistani “hatred,” “they need Pakistan to enter the Chinese economic sphere,” he adds Didier Chaudet .