US committed to relocate all Afghans by Sept 2025: FO

Islamabad not sure about post-Biden status of refugee programme

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ISLAMABAD:

The Foreign Office on Thursday disclosed for the first time that the United States had agreed to resettle all Afghans, currently in Pakistan, by September 2025 and said Washington had yet to officially communicate about the new administration's move to suspend the Afghan refugee settlement plan.

Approximately 25,000 Afghans, who worked for the US military and their contractors, are currently in Pakistan. They fled the Taliban rule as a result of chaotic withdrawal of the US-led foreign forces in August 2021.

Pakistan provided them the temporary stay at the request of Washington, who promised to relocate all Afghans to the US. However, despite the US commitment, thousands of Afghans are still in Islamabad.

On Thursday, Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan was asked a series of questions about the status of those Afghans in view of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants.

"We have an arrangement in place with the United States, by virtue of which it is committed to take Afghans who are in Pakistan to US for resettlement by September 2025," the spokesperson told reporters.

This was the first time Pakistan officially spoke about the specific timeline of the relocation of Afghans, who are eligible for their resettlement to the US.

While the process of resettlement remained painstakingly slow during the Biden administration, US President Donald Trump issued a slew of executive orders on Monday, including the one suspending the Afghan refugee program.

As many as 1,660 Afghans ready to board flights to the US were affected by the ban. The move would also put the fate of 25,000 Afghans currently waiting for their resettlement at stake.

The spokesperson, however, said Pakistan was sticking to the commitment given by the US. "The arrangements are in place. We have, so far officially, not received any further information on this issue. So that's all that I can say as far as we are concerned, that arrangement remains in place."

The spokesperson without providing the numbers said other than the US there were other countries, which were to resettle Afghans in their respective countries.

"But what we do note is, at times it appears to us to be excruciatingly slow. What we would want is it to accelerate and to move faster. This is what we emphasise. We are in touch with other friendly governments which want to take Afghans for resettlement to their countries," he told reporters.

The Trump administration's policy on the Afghan refugee program may cause a hiccup in the bilateral ties between Pakistan and the US.

However, the spokesperson sounded optimistic. "We welcome President Trump's oath taking. And as I mentioned last time, the American people have spoken, there is a new President, a new administration in Washington. And as I mentioned earlier, Pakistan-US have decade's old, very long-standing relations, which we characterize as very important, very critical and very dense also. They cover multiple areas, and we look forward to continuing the positive trajectory of our relations and remain engaged with the new administration," he said.

He also confirmed that the Prime Minister wrote a letter to the new US President felicitating him on his oath taking.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson vehemently rejected recent claims by the Taliban government that Daesh terrorist groups had training camps in Pakistan. "We completely reject these allegations. They are not grounded in reality. It's just some kind of a weird propaganda."

"Pakistan remains a victim of terrorism, and most of my colleagues here have covered terrorism for so long, they know what is happening, and we remain seriously concerned about the sanctuaries enjoyed by TTP in Afghanistan. It remains a source of support, logistics and everything the way TTP is operating. It couldn't do without the sanctuaries it's enjoying in Afghanistan. And we continue to impress upon the Afghan authorities to address this genuine and serious concern, so that our bilateral relations could achieve its full potential as good neighbors," he added.