Islamabad, Dec 8 (AP) Nearly half a million Afghans who were living in Pakistan without valid documents have returned home in just over two months as part of an ongoing crackdown on foreigners in the country without papers, the caretaker interior minister said on Friday.

The expulsions are part of a nationwide crackdown by the government in Islamabad that started two months ago. Pakistan insists the campaign is not against Afghans specifically, though they make up most of the foreigners in the country.

Also Read | Russia Presidential Election 2024: Russian President Vladimir Putin To Seek Re-Election for His Third Consecutive Term.

Pakistan has long hosted about 1.7 million Afghans, most of whom fled during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. In addition, more than half a million people fled Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power in August 2021, in the final weeks of US and NATO pullout.

At a news conference in Islamabad on Friday, caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said more than 482,000 Afghans have returned home in the past more than two months, 90 per cent going voluntarily.

Also Read | Israel-Hamas War: Six Palestinians Killed by Israeli Army at Refugee Camp in West Bank.

He said Pakistan has also decided to deport 10 Afghans who were in the country legally but who were taking part in politics.

“Only Pakistani citizens are allowed to engage in political activities in the country. Any foreigner who is found involved in any political activity will be deported immediately,” he said. Bugti did not identify the 10 Afghans who are being deported, nor did he give any details about their activities in Pakistan's politics.

Bugti said in the ongoing first phase, only undocumented Afghans were being deported but at some point every Afghan refugee would have to go back because Pakistan had already hosted them for up to 40 years.

Most of the Afghans did not try to get Pakistani citizenship, hoping they would not be forced to leave the country. The sudden change in the country's policy has strained relations with Afghanistan's Taliban-led administration, which wanted Islamabad to give more time to Afghans, a request that was not accepted by Pakistan.

Bugti's remarks are likely to cause panic among the nearly 1.4 million Afghans registered as living in Pakistan.

His comments come at a time when US Special Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West is visiting Pakistan. On Thursday, West met with Pakistan's caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jillani, according to the ministry.

According to Pakistani officials, the two sides discussed a range of issues, including the ongoing drive against undocumented Afghans. The forced expulsion of Afghans without documentation has drawn widespread criticism from human rights activists, UN officials and others, who have asked Pakistan to reconsider the policy.

Currently, international aid groups and the UN are providing health care and nutrition to those arriving in Afghanistan from Pakistan. The Taliban administration is also providing aid to returnees. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)