Washington has drawn up plans to deport more than 150 Afghan immigrants to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan through Pakistan, with a chartered flight expected as early as Monday, November 2, according to reports published on Friday, October 30.
Reuters reported that President Donald Trump’s administration plans to deport some Afghan immigrants to Afghanistan, citing a US official and a coalition of veterans and advocacy groups. The New York Times, cited by Reuters and other outlets, reported that more than 150 Afghans are expected to be removed in what would be one of the largest single expulsions of Afghans since the Taliban returned to power.
Immigration authorities have moved Afghan detainees from facilities across the country to Louisiana in recent days, according to the reporting. Dozens of Afghan immigrants were detained in Louisiana, and the first flight is expected as soon as Monday, the Times reported. The government has not publicly announced the operation.
What is planned
Under the reported plan, detainees would first be flown to Pakistan. Pakistan would then expel the group across the border into Afghanistan, advocacy groups said, citing the Times reporting. Three US officials told the Times that the deportation is, in effect, to Afghanistan, and detainees have been told the same.
A US official told Reuters that deportations would go via Pakistan because Washington cannot directly arrange deportations to Afghanistan, as it lacks diplomatic ties with the Taliban authorities. The Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm future removal operations, citing operational security, and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not comment on prospective removal operations, including schedules, destinations or individual cases.
AfghanEvac, an advocacy group for Afghans who helped US forces, had warned earlier that a special charter flight could leave Louisiana in the first week of November. In an October 26 update, the group said some detainees were told they were going to Pakistan, others to Afghanistan, and none of the people whose cases it was tracking had been shown travel documents. Its removal tracker had logged at least 30 reports from 15 detention facilities in 11 states since October 14.
Who faces removal
Many of those facing removal fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover and the US withdrawal in 2021, said Shawn VanDiver, head of AfghanEvac. The Times reported that the group includes relatives of people who served alongside US troops, and at least one gay man. Same-sex relations are treated as a crime under the Taliban, which has carried out public floggings of people accused of homosexuality since returning to power in August 2021.
Lawyers for some detainees are challenging the deportations, according to the Times. AfghanEvac urged authorities to disclose the destination and give detainees a chance to raise fears of persecution or torture before removal. It remains unclear whether Pakistani authorities have formally agreed to receive the group, and Bloomberg Law first reported on October 26 that detained Afghans were being notified of plans to deport them to Pakistan.
Reactions
Global Refuge, a refugee resettlement organisation, called on the administration to halt or reverse the plans before any flight departs. Its president and chief executive, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, said: “Five years ago, Americans watched Afghans cling to planes to escape the Taliban. On Monday, our government plans to charter one back to their persecutors’ hands.”
Vignarajah added: “For the people on that manifest, the consequences could be prison, torture, or worse. For their families here, some of whom served alongside US servicemembers, it means losing a loved one without knowing whether they’ll ever hear from them again.”
Global Refuge said Pakistan offers no safe harbor, noting that since 2023 its government has expelled or forced the return of more than 2.7 million Afghans and has vowed to remove the roughly 1.5 million who remain. Inside Afghanistan, the organisation said, the United Nations has documented killings, arbitrary detention and torture of people tied to the former government and security forces.
Background
AfghanEvac said the flight would be the first time detained Afghans have been deported to Pakistan. The administration has already sent Afghans to third countries, including two flights to the Central African Republic since August, according to the group. Global Refuge said the flight marks an escalation of third-country removals that have already sent deportees to countries including South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
The plan comes amid a broader campaign affecting Afghans in the United States, Global Refuge said, including a travel ban that bars most Afghans from entering the country, the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan, and a US Citizenship and Immigration Services processing freeze that has left thousands already in the country in limbo.
Pakistan has pursued its own mass expulsion campaign, which has driven millions of Afghans out of the country since late 2023. Reuters reported that Pakistan has expelled over 2 million Afghan nationals to Afghanistan since 2023. Rights groups warn that relatives of former US partners face a heightened risk of reprisal if returned.
What happens next
If the reported timetable holds, the chartered flight could depart as early as November 2, a day before the US midterm elections on November 3. Nothing in the reporting indicates the timing was chosen because of the vote, and the date remains provisional, with earlier advocacy warnings pointing only to the first week of November.
Global Refuge is calling on Congress to demand full disclosure of any arrangement with Pakistan or the Taliban, including how travel documents were obtained, to require confirmation that no one slated for removal holds a court order barring deportation to Afghanistan, and to push for full resumption of processing of Afghans’ applications for protection and lawful status.
Vignarajah warned: “If this flight takes off unchallenged, it won’t be the last, and each one after it will be easier to send. What happens in the next few days will decide whether this is remembered as an outrage or accepted as American policy.”
Legal challenges, pressure from veterans and advocacy groups, and any statement from the administration or Pakistan in the coming days will determine whether the flight leaves on Monday or is delayed. SialNews will update this story as official confirmation or new details emerge.
