Afghan Refugees in Pakistan: Humanitarian and Security Challenges

The subject of the 'Afghan refugees' in Pakistan remains a very critical part of the national security discourse from the multiple standpoints. According to the United Nations latest statistics, Pakistan currently ranks third largest refugee hosting country in the world. It accommodates over 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees, 840,000 Afghan Citizen Cardholders (ACC) and an estimated 500,000 undocumented Afghans (UNHCR, 2022). While general Pakistani estimate about the number of Afghan refugees varies between three to four million people. The present research study deliberates upon the traditional and non-traditional policy perspectives vis-a-vis the Afghan refugees. That is, to institute a proactive Afghan refugee policy, both the humanitarian perspective and the traditional security concerns (border management, drug and narcotics trade, arms smuggling, terrorist outfits based in Afghanistan targeting Pakistan) cannot be set aside from the Islamabad standpoint. This study explores the complex underpinnings of Afghan refugee construct in the internal and external security prism of Pakistan. With this, how Islamabad has been balancing its ethnic, cultural, religious and territorial bonds (both positive and negative) with the Afghanis along with the international humanitarian obligations (UNHCR). There is an attempt to dwells upon the following inter-linked queries: How Global War on Terror (GWOT - led by USA) in Afghanistan led to the Afghan refugees influx into Pakistan; War on Terror implications on Afghan refugees residing inside Pakistan, and; How the post-US withdrawal from Afghanistan has led to another surge of Afghan refugees into Pakistan and finally, how Islamabad is coping with this situation in lieu of its humanitarian and security standpoints? By addressing these questions, the aim of this paper is to underscore the need for Pakistan to craft a comprehensive and futuristic policy on Afghan refugees keeping in view the geographic realities, centuries old social affinities, tribal, ethnic, and religious associations of the people on both sides of the border and also in the light of unfolding geo-economic prospects of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It is argued that stability and peace in Afghanistan is essential to the economic and human development of all the stakeholders in South Asia and beyond. This can translate into the peaceful repatriation of the Afghan refugees into their homeland. In crux, the paper notes that Pakistan's Afghan ref