Many thousands of Afghans have fled to Pakistan (file picture)
By Caroline Davies
BBC News, Islamabad
Hundreds of Afghans who risked their lives to work with the UK in Afghanistan and fled the Taliban are now stuck in neighbouring Pakistan as they wait to be relocated to the UK.
Some have told the BBC their days are spent living in fear, as Pakistan starts a crackdown on migrants without visas after cross-border tensions rose.
Marzia was an English teacher for the British council. She is heavily pregnant and has been waiting for a UK visa for eight months.
“My physical and mental health are not good,” she says.
“When the Taliban government took over Afghanistan our life was in danger because of the work that we did for UK government. We had to live in hiding.”
Marzia is just one of many Afghans who worked for or with the UK in some capacity before foreign forces hastily withdrew when the Taliban retook power in 2021. Others are former translators for the British army, people who worked on British led projects to encourage democracy and equality in Afghanistan – all told they qualify for the UK government’s resettlement schemes. All are in Pakistan because the UK government asked them to come so they could process their visas.
Some have been here for months, others for more than a year, as they wait for news of a new life in the UK. And while they wait, they have no legal access to an education or work.
Most we spoke to didn’t want to be quoted. Those who did asked for anonymity; we have changed their names. Many told us they were afraid there could be repercussions for their case, or that they or their family back in Afghanistan could be in targeted by the Taliban. The Taliban government has said there is an amnesty for former Afghan government soldiers, contractors and translators who worked for international forces.
Marzia says her passport was taken by the UK authorities on her arrival and that the visa she arrived in Pakistan on has run out.
In late September she says she was told by her caseworker at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) – her point of contact in Pakistan – that she should not leave her guest house.
It’s meant she has already missed a doctor’s appointment and doesn’t know what to do about the birth.
“It’s impossible for me to give birth to my baby inside my hotel room. There isn’t any facility [or] anyone to help me,” she says.
Her voice quickens as she speaks. “Me and my baby’s health will be in danger. We worked for them, [now] it’s time for them to help us.”
Image source, Getty Images
A Taliban security guard at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in Spin Boldak
Five other people with expired Pakistan visas also said the IOM, or their guesthouse quoting the IOM, said they should not leave the premises.
When asked, the IOM told the BBC that they had “not given the advice mentioned”, saying: “IOM only advises to leave information about their whereabouts at their accommodation reception when leaving the premises to ensure follow up and support when and if needed.”
Waiting for answers from the UK
We spoke to people on two UK government schemes known as ARAP – Afghan Relocation and Assistance policy – and ACRS – Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme.
In September, the government said around 2,730 people – “principals” and their dependents – were on these programmes in Pakistan.
As there is no way for the UK to process visa applications in Afghanistan, once people have been approved by the scheme and passed initial security checks they are asked to make their own way to a third country – usually Pakistan – so their biometrics and final checks can be completed.
Even leaving the country is difficult; there is a long waiting list in Afghanistan for nationals seeking passports and obtaining a visa for Pakistan can take months. We spoke to several people who, despite the amnesty, said they lived in hiding from the Taliban government, others who say their homes were raided.
In Pakistan, the UK government pays for their rooms and food, and many told the BBC that they were told to bring minimal money to avoid issues at the border, which has now all but gone.
They say they were told or assumed they would only spend a few weeks in Pakistan but have found themselves stuck with no answer from the UK.
One charity that works to campaign for Afghan interpreters, the Sulha Alliance, told us that they knew of many who had waited for more than a year and some for nearing two.
Children stuck in limbo are missing out on education
The group’s co-founder Sara de Jong said the schemes were essential lifelines, but that “their execution has been too slow and ineffective”.
“Too many Afghan interpreters and others, who we promised to bring to safety more than two years ago, are still left in Afghanistan, or waiting in Pakistan or other third countries,” Prof de Jong told the BBC.
A UK government spokesperson said: “We continue to honour our commitments to bring eligible Afghans to the UK, and we are issuing new visas to people in Afghanistan and other countries for resettlement here.
“The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help at-risk people in Afghanistan and, so far, we have brought around 24,600 people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan resettlement schemes.”
This figure includes British citizens and others with settled status already who were evacuated from Afghanistan during the operation in 2021 as a government website explains; 21,526 were on the ACRS and ARAP programmes.
‘Our lives are 100% in danger’
Jamal was a translator with the British army. He proudly shows me pictures of his time in uniform. He has spent more than five months in Islamabad and is currently staying with his children and wife in one room. He is unable to work legally, the only lessons his children have are English lessons online.
“I left my parents in Afghanistan who need my support. I don’t have job here to do something. My children missed one year of education because of Covid, after that the Taliban came [and] we missed the education of our children in Afghanistan. Now we also missed the children’s education in Pakistan.”
He is joined by Qasim, who worked with UK authorities. After six months living with his family of 10 in one room, he says he wishes he had not come.
“In Afghanistan, girls can’t get an education, but here none of my children can either,” he told us bitterly.
He feels that by joining the scheme, he would be at more risk were he to return.
“Before we left Afghanistan, if our lives were at 50% danger, now they are in 100% danger.”
Their fear of the police in Pakistan has intensified. While they say that they were always aware of the risk of being stopped while on the street, a little over a week ago others on the ARAP programme told them that police had entered their hotel in the early hours, taking several to a police station, only to release them a few hours later.
“A person’s personal life wherever he happens to live should be safe, but even that is not respected,” says Qasim. “After the police started raiding hotels, Afghans have been under a lot of stress, not only my family but others too, it has caused them psychological problems; this is a severe action of theirs which no one can tolerate.”
Image source, Getty Images
Some Afghans are already leaving Pakistan ahead of its planned crackdown on migrants
“There are no guarantees as to whether we will be arrested or not,” he says.
The BBC has been shown a message issued afterwards by the British authorities saying that after questions raised of Pakistan police possibly entering hotels, they “are continuing to work with the Pakistani authorities to resolve issues around expired visas… and will take action to quickly resolve incidents should they arise”.
But the two men and others the BBC spoke to remain very nervous.
As with Marzia, they do not have their passports and their Pakistan visas have expired.
‘British government – do something quick’
We asked the government about the legal status of those on the ARAP and ACRS programmes in light of the recent crackdown by Pakistan authorities on illegal migrants, but were not given a response.
Pakistan has said its efforts to crackdown on illegal migrants are not targeted at Afghans, but the minister that announced the policy said that 1.7 million Afghans live in Pakistan illegally.
Analysts say the move is the result of increasing tension between the two countries – Pakistan has accused the Taliban government of harbouring militant groups that attack Pakistanis.
Afghanistan denies this and says that Pakistan police are harassing Afghans even if they do have the correct documentation. The fallout will affect the many Afghans who have fled across the border to Pakistan over decades.
Amid the politics, those on these UK government schemes wait daily for an email or call that they will be leaving.
“I supported them; I stayed with them side by side; shoulder by shoulder, and I supported them on the frontline, but I don’t know what the British government is doing with us,” says Jamal. “They left us behind, many years ago.”
“My request from the British government is to please, do something quick, and take us to the UK because [it is not] good for us here.”
