Christians are among the hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees who have begun to force Pakistan to Afghanistan on Tuesday (April 1), where the dominant Taliban claimed they would kill Christians, sources said.
According to Jude Simion of refugee aid group Philoi Global, Pakistan has over 1.4 million registered people and 700,000 unregistered Afghans in Pakistan.
“These families face life-threatening dangers due to their faith, ethnicity, nationality and political beliefs,” Simion said. “Deportation puts them to extreme persecution under both Pakistan and Afghanistan regimes.”
Many Afghan refugees fled to Pakistan in 2021 after the Taliban, an Islamic extremist, came to power. Pakistan responded quickly, fearing that Afghanistan, who had attacked the target, had a terrorist group that attacked the target, and that it had declined due to a freeze on January 20th of US President Trump. In February, since March 31, Pakistan announced it would deport at least 44,000 Afghans awaiting resettlement in the Western countries, more than 800,000 Afghan citizenship cards and an unknown number of undocumented Afghan migrants.
More than 20,000 Afghan refugees and their families awaited US resettlement under special immigration visas to support the US and NATO forces, but President Trump’s order suspended resettlement of all US refugees, except in individual cases.
Pakistani senior diplomats said that a decline in international aid was a key factor in their decision to increase deportation. Before Trump’s orders freeze almost all foreign aid, including refugee assistance programs, the United Nations reported last year that Pakistan accounted for 42% of more than $100 million in international aid received for Afghan refugees, citing the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
For Afghan refugees in major cities in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, on January 29, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office issued a cycle that ordered the immediate deportation of Afghans with Afghan citizen cards and Pakistan origin cards, Simion of Philoi Global said.
“These documents were intended to provide some kind of protection, but are now being used to identify and deport vulnerable individuals,” he said.
The visa-free Afghanist told global workers in Philoy that he doesn’t know what to do after March 31.
“The Taliban will definitely kill me,” the refugee said. “The main reason is that I am a Christian, and I worked with the government before Afghanistan as a military member.”
Another Afghan refugee asked the global worker in Philoy to pray for his visa renewal.
“The situation here has become really bad, especially for people who are alone,” he said. “Because I am single, no one will lend me a helping hand. If I cannot renew my visa, I will be forced to deport and destroyed by the Taliban terrorist group. Pray in the name of the Holy Spirit on this matter.”
Nearly 1,660 Afghans were exempt from US resettlement and their flights were cancelled, Simion said, before Trump’s orders halted the refugee program. Germany deported at least 28 Afghan asylum seekers late last year, adding that “we are observing increased pressure from right-wing parties that have gained influence on the government and are defending Afghan deportation.”
Iran has already indicated plans to send back Afghan refugees, and neighbouring countries have also begun deporting Afghans, Simion said.
According to Open Door’s 2025 World Watch List Report, the Taliban says they will kill Christians and find them door-to-door.
“Afghanistan church leaders were specifically targeted. Many disappeared, while others were beaten, tortured and killed,” the report states. “The existing House churches remain deeply underground, and Christians live under relentless pressure. If a convert from Islam is discovered, families, clans, or tribes may try to maintain what is called “honor.”
One of Afghanistan’s general intelligence agency filed a special charge last month that some Shia Muslims became Christians and ordered arrests, according to audio advocacy groups for women in Afghanistan.
Directors of the Intelligence News Directorate of Daikundi and Bamyan, directed the Directorate of the Intelligence News, 376, focusing on anti-intellectual and secret police, ordered the arrest of “many Shia youths” who served in the previous government.
“Now, to work for Jesus, they have been given privileges and plans by European countries,” the director identified as saying in order only with Dr. Bashir. “Therefore, the issues were shared for your understanding. By investigating, investigating, stabilizing the issues, we will capture the perpetrator.”
In a Facebook post, Afghan woman’s voice calls the pretext of slandering and suppressing young Hazaras, one of Afghanistan’s biggest tribes, accusation.
“Now, it remains to be seen how many young Hazara have been arrested for the crimes of (probably Christian missionaries) by observing this letter,” the group said. “It is clear that the name of Christianity has not been mentioned even among young Bamiyan Daikundi, not to mention promoting it.”
Shia Muslims make up an estimated 10-15% of the almost entirely Muslim population.
