Pakistan has begun detaining Afghan nationals who were supposed to be resettled in Germany under a controversial federal admission scheme, Welt am Sonntag has reported.
Around 2,500 Afghans were left in legal limbo in Islamabad after Berlin failed to process their cases within the agreed time limits, prompting Pakistani authorities to begin arresting them en masse.
According to the German newspaper, Pakistan had warned Germany repeatedly since late 2023 that it could no longer tolerate the presence of Afghans with expired visas awaiting resettlement. Germany had promised asylum to tens of thousands of Afghans since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, but instead of flying them directly to Europe, had them wait in Pakistan while the German authorities conducted background checks.
Berlin claims these security and visa procedures have taken far longer than expected — often up to eight months — while the Pakistani visas granted to the Afghans are valid for only three. The effectiveness of such vetting procedures has already been scrutinized in Germany amid reports from April this year that just one in eight Afghans who have arrived through the process were fully checked.
Islamabad initially gave Berlin until March 31 to resolve the issue and vacate the reception centers used to house the Afghans. That deadline was extended to June 30, but with no resolution in sight, Pakistani authorities began arresting migrants days before the second deadline passed.
German officials have reportedly attempted to prevent deportations, and in some cases were able to return detainees to their temporary accommodation. Still, according to Welt am Sonntag, around 150 Afghans with legal assurances of German asylum have been taken to deportation camps. Their current whereabouts are unknown in many cases.
On July 2, the German Foreign Office acknowledged that at least two Afghan families were arrested. The ministry is now in “close, high-level contact” with Pakistani counterparts to try to stop deportations of individuals who had already been promised asylum in Germany.
Germany’s diplomatic staff have reportedly resorted to extraordinary measures to protect those caught up in the chaos — such as having couriers deliver passports to the Afghan side of the Pakistan border, where deported Afghans can be formally re-processed and sent back to Islamabad, effectively restarting their wait for German visas.
Germany’s new CDU-led coalition pledged to shut down the admission programs entirely during February’s election campaign, though courts have ruled that previously issued guarantees must be honored.
The Berlin Administrative Court held last week that the government must issue visas to Afghans who had received written assurances of resettlement. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stated that Germany would stand by legally binding commitments already made.
For Pakistan, however, the patience has run out. In October 2023, Islamabad tied the mass deportation campaign to national security, citing data that 14 of the 24 suicide bombings that year had been carried out by Afghan nationals. The Pakistani government ordered the estimated 1.73 million Afghans living in the country illegally to leave or face forced removal.
Then-Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti justified the crackdown, saying at the time, “There are no two opinions that we are attacked from within Afghanistan and Afghan nationals are involved in attacks on us. We have evidence.”
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel praised Pakistan’s actions, saying on X, “Pakistan is deporting Afghans to their homeland, whom the conservative coalition government wanted to bring to Germany, thus thwarting these plans. A good thing! The German government must finally end the voluntary admission of Afghans.”
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