ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan said Thursday that thousands of Afghan migrants who have applied for resettlement in third countries could face forced expulsion if they are not relocated by host nations before the end of April.
Deputy Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry did not mention specific host countries, but his announcement follows the suspension of U.S. refugee admissions programs that has left over 25,000 Afghan nationals facing uncertainty. Some of the Afghans also are trying to resettle in other Western countries, including the U.K.
Chaudhry said an April 30 deadline for resettlement of applicants has been communicated to potential host countries. He also said that any foreigners in the country illegally would be deported immediately, and that those who have obtained U.N. refugee status would be allowed to stay at least through June.
Many Afghans fled their country after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, fearing reprisals. Some had worked with the U.S. military, international organizations, aid agencies, media outlets or human rights groups.
Thousands already have been relocated to the United States, with those who worked for the U.S. military given a priority by the U.S. government. Thousands more have been living in Pakistan while seeking relocation to the United States or other Western countries.
Chaudhry said thousands of Afghans have been sent back over the past week as part of expulsions that began in October 2023, when Pakistan launched a crackdown on foreigners living illegally in Pakistan. Since then, more than 850,000 Afghans had been repatriated.
He said an estimated 800,000 additional Afghan migrants are in the country illegally, and that 1.4 million are in Pakistan with U.N. refugee status.
Spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told a news conference that the expulsions were not targeted specifically at Afghans and that any foreigners in the country illegally were being deported.
He also said Pakistan was engaged with U.N. agencies for the protection of people in vulnerable situations. “There is hardly any example of a country which has been more generous to refugees than Pakistan,” he said.
A laborer loads belongings of Afghan refugees onto the roof of a bus as the refugees prepare to return to Afghanistan, at a terminal in Karachi, Pakistan, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
LONDON (AP) — The U.K.'s home secretary on Wednesday urged the head of one of the country's leading police forces to resign following a report on how fans from Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv were banned from a match against Premier League side Aston Villa in Birmingham last year.
Shabana Mahmood told lawmakers that the independent report found “a failure of leadership” on the part of West Midlands Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford, adding that he "no longer has my confidence.”
The ban came at a time of heightened concerns about antisemitism in Britain following a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue and calls from Palestinians and their supporters for a sports boycott of Israel over the war with Hamas in Gaza.
The decision to ban Maccabi fans from the match with Aston Villa on Nov. 6 was widely criticized, including by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
West Midlands Police said at the time it had deemed the match to be high risk “based on current intelligence and previous incidents,” including violence and hate crimes that took place when Maccabi played Ajax in Amsterdam last season.
Guildford did not immediately comment on the report Wednesday.
Mahmood said the report by the chief inspector of constabulary, Andy Cooke, found that West Midlands Police had overstated the threat posed by Maccabi fans while understating the potential risks to them, and “conducted little engagement with the Jewish community" before a decision was taken.
She said the report noted that "the force sought only the evidence to support their desired position to ban the fans.” The report did not find the police force was antisemitic.
Mahmood also noted a police reference at the time to a nonexistent match between Maccabi and Premier League side West Ham in 2023, which was deemed to be an “AI hallucination.” Guildford previously denied that AI was to blame for that error but apologized for it Wednesday ahead of the report’s publication.
Mahmood said she didn't have the power to fire Guildford herself as a result of a policy change by the previous Conservative government in 2011, but she was looking to reinstate that power to home secretaries. Currently, locally elected police and crime commissioners have that power.
FILE - Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, is reflected as Britain's Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood speaks to members of the Jewish community at the Community Security Trust (CST) in north west London, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (Carlos Jasso, Pool Photo via AP, file)
FILE - Maccabi Tel Aviv's fan is escorted by police ahead of the Europa League soccer match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Birmingham, England, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Darren Staples, file)
