page_title: Afghans in Pakistan
section_title: Demographics
hierarchical_section_title: Afghans in Pakistan / Demographics
caption_attribution_description: English: Karim Sadiq
context_page_description: Afghans in Pakistan primarily constitute refugees who have fled wars in Afghanistan, but there are small numbers of Afghan asylum seekers, migrant workers, merchants, businesspeople, exchange students and diplomats. Most were born and raised in Pakistan and are under age 30, but are still considered citizens of Afghanistan. They are under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and have been given legal status in Pakistan until the end of 2017.
  The first wave of Afghan refugees to Pakistan began during the Soviet–Afghan War in the late 1970s. By the end of 2001, there were over four million. Most have returned to Afghanistan since 2002. The UNHCR reported in February 2017 that about 1.3 million registered Afghan citizens still remained in Pakistan, distributed as follows: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Balochistan; Punjab; Sindh and Islamabad.
  They are primarily Afghanistan's Pashtuns, followed by Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Baloch and Turkmen. In March 2012, Pakistan banned visa extensions for all foreigners.
context_section_description: Most Afghans are found in Pashtun-dominated areas of Pakistan, which includes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the city of Quetta in northern Balochistan. Smaller communities exist in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Lahore.
  Eighty-five percent of Afghan refugees in Pakistan are Pashtuns, and the remaining 15 percent are Uzbeks, Tajiks and members of other ethnic groups. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hosts the largest Afghan refugee population (62.1 percent), followed by Balochistan (20.3 percent), Punjab (11 percent), Sindh (4.2 percent), Islamabad (two percent) and Azad Kashmir (0.4 percent).
caption: Karim Sadiq of the Afghanistan national cricket team lived in Pakistan.
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