ISLAMABAD: The United States (US) acknowledges the issue of US military equipment left behind in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s foreign office said on Monday, days after Islamabad urged the international community to recover foreign stockpiles in the neighboring country.​
The statement came after Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s telephonic conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during which the two figures discussed the issue of US-made advanced weapons in Afghanistan, Islamabad’s counter-terrorism efforts and other affairs of mutual interest.
Pakistan has voiced its concerns over the presence of advanced US weapons in Afghanistan which Washington has sought to be returned by Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers. Islamabad last week urged the United Nations to recover these weapons, warning that militant groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) were gaining access to them.
Last month, a Geneva-based monitor, Small Arms Survey, said in its report that trafficking and illegal sale of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Soviet arms have continued in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s border regions more than three years after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and their seizure of the previous regime’s stockpiles.
“Secretary Rubio agreed on the need to resolve the issue of US Military equipment left behind in Afghanistan,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
 “Dar and Secretary of State Rubio agreed to remain in close contact and to work together to advance the shared interests of both countries.”
Pakistan has struggled to contain surging militancy in its western regions that border Afghanistan in recent years, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. Afghan officials deny involvement and insist that Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.
During his conversation with Rubio, Dar highlighted Pakistan’s efforts in fighting terrorism from 2013 till 2018, which caused Islamabad huge economic and human losses.
“Secretary of State Rubio also appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in the fight against terrorism and expressed the US desire to further enhance counter-terrorism cooperation,” the Pakistani foreign office added.
On Friday, Syed Atif Raza, counsellor at Pakistan’s UN Mission, told a UNSC meeting on small arms and light weapons management that militant groups possessed lethal weapons left in Afghanistan that were now used against civilians and Pakistan’s armed forces.
“We know that non-state actors do not have many of the capabilities to manufacture advanced illicit arms, thus raising questions of culpability of certain state actors in these nefarious activities,” he said.​
“Pakistan is concerned at the acquisition and use of modern and sophisticated illicit arms by terrorist groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a UN-listed terrorist organization, which operates with impunity from Afghanistan, as well as the so-called Baloch Liberation Army and Majeed Brigade.”
The Pakistani diplomat asserted that militants receive external support and financing from Pakistan’s “principal adversary,” alluding to India.​
He also highlighted that the evolving nature of warfare and new technologies posed challenges in combating the proliferation of increasingly lethal small arms.
The Small Arms Survey report said that as of August 2021, Afghanistan had 258,300 rifles, including M4, M16 and AK-variants, 64,300 pistols, 63,000 sniper rifles, 56,155 light, medium and heavy machine guns, 31,000 grenade launchers, 9,115 shotguns, 1,845 rounds of 60-82mm, as well as hundreds of thousands of accessories and munitions.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has repatriated more than 13,500 Afghan nationals since the expiry of a March 31 deadline set by Islamabad, Pakistani officials said on Monday, amid intensifying efforts to return all illegal foreigners and Afghan Citizen Card-holders to their home countries.
Pakistan last month set the deadline for some 800,000 Afghans carrying ACCs to leave the country, another phase in Islamabad’s campaign in recent years to return foreigners, mostly Afghans, living in Pakistan. The move is part of a larger repatriation drive of foreign citizens that began in 2023, with over 800,000 Afghans expelled from Pakistan since. The government initially said it was first focusing on expelling foreigners with no legal documentation and other categories like ACC holders would be included later.
According to the United Nations (UN) data, Pakistan has hosted more than 2.8 million Afghan nationals who crossed the border in a desperate attempt to escape decades of war and instability in their home country. Around 1.3 million of them are formally registered as refugees and hold Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, which grant them legal protection. Another 800,000 Afghans possess ACC, a separate identity document issued by the Pakistani government, that recognizes them as Afghan nationals without offering refugee status.
“As per the government’s decision, the operation against illegal foreigners and ACC-holder Afghans is continued with full intensity since April 1,” Qadir Yar Tiwana, a senior official at the Pakistani interior ministry, told Arab News.
“All those who are confirmed after checking are being sent to the holding centers for further processing to be repatriated.”
Although Pakistani federal authorities have not released details of recent detentions, provincial governments in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan, which border Afghanistan, have confirmed repatriating 11,134 individuals through the Torkham border crossing and over 2,500 via the Chaman border crossing, respectively.
“After the expiry of the deadline from April 1 till today, more than 2,500 individuals have been deported, which includes illegal and ACC card-holder Afghans,” Habib Ahmed, the Chaman deputy commissioner, told Arab News.
“In the latest deportation drive, a total of 11,134 illegal immigrants have been deported via KP, including 1,573 from Islamabad, 3,905 from Punjab, 38 from Azad Kashmir, one from Gilgit-Baltistan and 44 from Sindh,” the KP home and tribal affairs department said, adding that this included around 3,053 ACC-holders.
“Only on Monday, a total of 1,437 illegal Afghan nationals were deported through Pak-Afghan Torkham border.”
Anwer Shehzad, a KP government focal person for repatriation centers, said both holding centers in Peshawar and Landi Kotal were working hard to “ease the repatriation process.”
“We are sending them back to Afghanistan after completing all the processes at the Landi Kotal holding centers, including the finger-print scanning for the record,” he told Arab New.
“There is no extensive operation going on in KP but we are receiving individuals from other parts of the country.”
Shehzad clarified the KP government had initially focused on encouraging voluntary repatriation, but they were now launching search operations in the province.
A spokesperson of the Punjab police said the government’s campaign for the deportation of illegal immigrants continues “without interruption” in the province.
“So far, 4,111 individuals have been deported from the province with the assistance of relevant agencies during the ongoing deportation campaign,” a police spokesperson said, adding a total of 46 holding centers had been established across Punjab.
“Over 5,950 illegal foreign residents have been sent to holding centers during the campaign and currently, 1,839 illegal foreign residents are present at the holding points.”
In Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh, a total of 307 illegal foreigners and ACC-holders have been repatriated since April 1, according to Sohail Ahmed Jokhio, a spokesperson for the Sindh home minister.
“Of these, 187 were undocumented illegal foreigners, while 120 were Afghan nationals holding ACCs,” he told Arab News.
Jokhio said the Sindh government has established two holding centers: one in Karachi and the other in Jacobabad.
Shahid Rind, a spokesperson of the Balochistan government, said the provincial administration has started arresting illegal foreigners and Afghan ACC-holders as per the federal government’s direction.
“Police and other agencies are acting on the information to arrest the individuals falling in the category defined by the federal government and they are sent to the holding centers for further processing,” he told Arab News.
Rind said provincial law enforcement agencies and the administration were facilitating the repatriation of these individuals.
Afghan refugee ministry spokesman Abdul Mutalib Haqqani has said that “more than a million Afghans might return” to their home country under the repatriation drive, urging Islamabad to ensure their dignified return.
“We are urging Pakistan authorities not to deport them (Afghans) forcefully — there should be a proper mechanism with an agreement between both countries, and they must be returned with dignity,” he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
Speaking to Arab News, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Pakistan spokesperson Qaiser Khan Afridi expressed concerns over the deportation drive and reports of arrests of ACC holders.
“We believe that among the Afghan Citizen Cardholders, there may be individuals requiring international protection. In that light, we are urging the Government to see their situation through a humanitarian lens,” he said.
“We also call for engagement between Pakistan and Afghanistan to so that returns can be dignified and voluntary. It is imperative that returns is voluntary and dignified so that reintegration in Afghanistan is sustainable.”
Ties between the neighboring countries have frayed since the Taliban takeover, with Pakistan accusing Kabul’s rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government denies.
“The government and people of Pakistan have a commendable, decades-long history of hosting Afghans who fled conflict and violence in the past,” Afridi said.
“UNHCR reiterates its call and urges Pakistan to continue to protect those seeking safety, as it has done for many decades, recognizing the ongoing human rights situation in Afghanistan and noting that there are people whose lives might be at risk if they return, regardless of their status.”