page_title: Afghans in Pakistan
section_title: UNHCR repatriation
hierarchical_section_title: Afghans in Pakistan / History and migration / UNHCR repatriation
caption_attribution_description: A truck loaded with Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan after years in exile pulls into the UN reception center in Kabul before bringing the Afghans back to their villages.
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: As of 2016, over 4.3 million Afghans were repatriated from Pakistan through the UNHCR since March 2002. According to Census of Afghans in Pakistan, a 2005 Pakistani Ministry of States and Frontier Regions report, the ethnic breakdown of Afghans in Pakistan was Pashtuns (81.5 percent), Tajiks (7.3 percent), Uzbeks (2.3 percent), Hazara (1.3 percent), Turkmen (2.0 percent), Balochi (1.7 percent) and others (3.9 percent). The government of Pakistan receives $133 million per year ($78 per person) from the UNHCR for hosting Afghans.
  In 2005 the government of Pakistan began registering Afghans, and the number of registered Afghans was reported at 2.15 million in February 2007. They received computer-generated "proof of registration" (PoR) cards with biometric features—similar to the Pakistani Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC) but with "Afghan Citizen" on its front.
  More than 357,000 Afghans were repatriated from Pakistan in 2007, and Afghans were repatriated between March and October of each subsequent year. Returnees were reportedly to be given land by the Afghan government to build a home, and each person received a travel package worth about $100 (which was increased to $400). About 80 percent of the returnees came from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11 percent from Balochistan, 3 percent from Sindh and the remaining 4 percent from rest of the country.
  In June 2010 Pakistan ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture, which forbids member states from deporting, extraditing or returning people where there is reason to believe they will be tortured. The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has increased its efforts toward a large-scale deportation of Afghan refugees from the province. The Afghan minister of refugees and repatriation announced that his ministry would establish 48 towns in Afghanistan for refugees returning from Pakistan and Iran.
  Between 2010 and the end of 2012, a reported 229,000 Afghan refugees returned from Pakistan. Some Pakistani officials have estimated that 400,000 non-registered Afghans may be living in their country.
  A total of 380,884 Afghan refugees left Pakistan for Afghanistan in 2016. Most were born and raised in Pakistan, but are still counted as citizens of Afghanistan. The UNHCR reported in February 2017 that about 1.3 million registered Afghans still remained in Pakistan. They are allowed to work, rent housing, travel and attend schools in the country until the end of 2017. A small number of refugees are asylum seekers who are waiting to be resettled in North America, Australia and the European Union.
caption: Afghans returning to Afghanistan in 2004
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