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Afghan refugees in Pakistan walk towards the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Torkham on November 3.
Afghan refugees in Pakistan walk towards the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Torkham on November 3.

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities and international aid agencies are struggling to cope with the influx of over 200,000 undocumented Afghan refugees forced to leave neighboring Pakistan in recent weeks.

More Afghans are expected to return to their homeland after Islamabad ordered some 1.7 million undocumented Afghan refugees and migrants to leave Pakistan or face arrest and forced expulsion after November 1.

Aid agencies said up to 10,000 Afghans are crossing the border every day from Pakistan. They have warned of chaotic and desperate scenes among returning Afghans.

The Taliban said it has established temporary camps for the returnees near the border, and promised to provide them with food, shelter, and medical assistance.

Why It's Important: There are widespread fears that the influx of Afghans from Pakistan will dramatically worsen the devastating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the world’s largest.

The cash-strapped Taliban government, which is under international sanctions, is unlikely to be able to absorb the returning refugees.

Aid groups in Afghanistan, meanwhile, have been forced to cut back their operations in recent months due to funding shortages.

In a joint statement on November 2, the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Danish Refugee Council, and the International Rescue Committee urged international donors “to mobilize additional humanitarian funding” to address the needs of the returnees “and avoid a new crisis.”

The UN estimates that over 29 million Afghans -- out of a population of around 40 million -- already need humanitarian assistance.

The humanitarian situation has been worsened recently by a series of deadly earthquakes in western Afghanistan and Iran’s ongoing mass deportation of undocumented Afghans.

What's Next: Afghans returning from Pakistan, where some have lived for years or even decades, face an uncertain future. Many have no place to go.

“I have four children. I lived in Pakistan for 15 years and my children were born in Pakistan. Now, we only have the clothes on our backs. We have no money. Our situation, like thousands of other families, is really bad,” Abdullah, an Afghan returnee, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

Some Afghan returnees, including journalists, activists, and members of the former Afghan government and its armed forces, are at risk of Taliban retribution.

“Vulnerable Afghans who have sought safety in the country [Pakistan] could be at imminent risk if forced to return,” said Qaisar Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Pakistan.

What To Keep An Eye On

The Taliban has arrested Fereydoun Fakuri, a writer and director, in the western city of Herat, his relatives told Radio Azadi on November 3.

His relatives said Fakuri was arrested by armed Taliban fighters outside his office on October 31. The Taliban has not revealed the charges against him.

Sources told Radio Azadi that Fakuri was arrested after criticizing the Taliban’s restrictions on girls’ education on social media.

Why It's Important: The Taliban has waged a brutal crackdown against dissent, targeting journalists, human rights defenders, women activists, and intellectuals.

Fakuri, a well-known figure in the local theater and cinema scene in Herat, appears to be the latest victim of the crackdown.

The Taliban on October 27 released education activist Matiullah Wesa after over seven months in custody. Wesa had campaigned for the education of girls and repeatedly called on the Taliban to reverse its restrictions on female education.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org.

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.

The fatwa from Kabul appears to be aimed at the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan -- an extremist group that has close ideological and organizational ties with the Afghan Taliban. (file photo)
The fatwa from Kabul appears to be aimed at the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan -- an extremist group that has close ideological and organizational ties with the Afghan Taliban. (file photo)

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe for free, click here.

I'm Frud Bezhan, regional desk editor for Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

The Afghan Taliban has issued a fatwa, or Islamic decree, banning its fighters from launching attacks in neighboring Pakistan.

That is according to the Taliban’s top diplomat in Islamabad, Hafiz Mohibullah Shakir, who told Pakistan’s Geo News that waging violence in "Pakistan is not jihad," or holy war.

Shakir did not say when and by whom the fatwa was issued.

“I want to make it clear: No attacks will be launched from Afghanistan on Pakistan,” Shakir said on October 25.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesman, said in August that the group had issued a fatwa that banned its fighters from waging violence outside Afghanistan, without specifically mentioning Pakistan.

The Taliban defined its 19-year insurgency against the U.S.-backed Afghan government and international forces as a jihad against “infidels” and “occupiers.”

Why It's Important: The fatwa appears to be aimed at the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) -- an extremist group that has close ideological and organizational ties with the Afghan Taliban.

The TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, has intensified its insurgency against Islamabad since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.

Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban of harboring the TTP and carried out cross-border attacks targeting TTP hideouts inside Afghanistan.

The fatwa also appears to be a response to growing reports that some Afghan Taliban fighters have joined the TTP’s insurgency.

Pakistani officials have said that Afghans have been involved in recent militant attacks in the South Asian country of some 240 million.

What's Next: The Afghan Taliban’s alleged sheltering of the TTP has soured its relations with Pakistan, its longtime ally.

The fatwa suggests that the Afghan militants are keen on mending ties with Islamabad. Recent tensions have led to costly border closures and deadly clashes.

In June, the Afghan Taliban relocated TTP fighters and their families away from the border with Pakistan to other areas of Afghanistan, a move intended to placate Islamabad.

What To Keep An Eye On

A young Afghan man has committed suicide in a refugee camp in Indonesia. Aqil Ali, 28, hanged himself in a camp in the city of Tanjung Pinang on October 22.

Hossein Azizi, Ali’s friend, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi that he was in a “bad mental state” for weeks. “We found him hanging from a tree near the volleyball court in the camp,” he said.

Ali’s body was laid to rest on October 24. He had been in Indonesia since 2014.

Why It's Important: Ali’s death has highlighted the plight of the over 7,000 Afghan refugees stranded in Indonesia.

Many Afghans saw Indonesia as a short-term stopover en route to Australia. But in 2013 the authorities in Canberra began refusing entry to boats carrying refugees and sent them back to the Southeast Asian nation.

Indonesia is one of the world's least desirable places for refugees. Jakarta is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees or the related 1967 protocol intended to eliminate restrictions on who can be considered a refugee.

Indonesia also has no asylum law of its own and delegates its responsibility to determine who gets refugee protection and finds solutions to the issue to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The result is that thousands of Afghan refugees are living in limbo in the archipelago, some for more than a decade, with no livelihood or security.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org.

Until next time,

Frud Bezhan

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe for free here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.

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Radio Azadi is RFE/RL's Dari- and Pashto-language public service news outlet for Afghanistan. Every Friday in our newsletter, the Azadi Briefing, correspondent Abubakar Siddique shares his analysis of the week’s most important issues and explain why they matter.

To subscribe, click here.

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