Afghanistan starts repatriating Da’ish families to Pakistan

In 1st phase 50 women, 76 children will be handed over to their Pakistani relatives, says official

The repatriation of Islamic State (IS), also known by its Arabic acronym of Da'ish, fighters' families belonging to Pakistan initiated on Thursday in Jalalabad, the headquarters of the eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, after militants gave up arms and surrendered to the Afghan government in November last year.

According to Afghan officials, in the first phase, 50 women and 76 children will be handed over to their Pakistani relatives, reported BBC Urdu.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced in November 2019, that the families of the IS fighters would be handed over to their Pakistani relatives by the tribal elders.

In November 2019, Afghan authorities claimed that more than 1,300 IS fighters surrendered to the Afghan forces.

According to Afghan officials, these families include women and children from the Terah Valley, Orakzai and Bajaur districts, who will be handed over to heads of their families.



Jan Mohammad – an elder from Khyber Valley, a district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) – participated in the ceremony in Dzhalal-Abad, where documents of the families were being examined for their return to the home country.

He told BBC correspondent in Dzhalal-Abad that he had come to pick up three women and four children who had come to Afghanistan five years ago.

"They have my two sons' wives and a niece and four children. I came here when the Afghan president announced to hand over the families. I have been here for many days, it is just a request to hand over our children and women so that we can go back," he said.

According to Afghan officials, scores of Da'ish fighters from the bordering region came to Afghanistan, who later brought their families too. These people were living in the areas of Nangarhar that were under control of the militants group.

Talking to media after the jirga, a tribal chief from Jalalabad, Malik Usman said that only women and children would be handed over whose relatives would come to pick them.

“This is the tradition of Afghans. These people came to Afghanistan due to a misunderstanding. The Afghan government, the Afghan people and the Ulema are sending back these women with honour," he added.

In August 2016, General John Nicholson, head of Nato and US forces in Afghanistan, claimed that these fighters were previously associated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), but after the successful launch of 'Zarb-e-Azb,' a military operation, in the tribal areas, these fighters fled to Afghanistan and joined Da'ish.

Pakistan has achieved relative peace after a series of army offensives against terrorists, especially after Operation Zarb-e-Azb and subsequent Operation Radd-ul-Fassad. These operations have resulted in a marked decrease in terrorist violence notwithstanding sporadic attacks.

This consistent year-on-year drop in violence has been acknowledged by local and international think tanks.

The story originally appeared on BBC Urdu