UN refugee agency calls on Pakistan, other countries to accept Afghan asylum-seekers

Afghans enter border town of Chaman walking past Pakistani soldiers manning the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing in Balochistan on August 17, 2021. (AN photo/File)

• The world body says Afghanistan's neighboring countries should open their borders even to those without documentation
• The UN refugee agency calls for a halt to deportations, saying Afghan nationals may face persecution in their homeland

GENEVA: Afghans seeking to flee abroad face escalating risks as the domestic situation deteriorates, the United Nations refugee agency said on Wednesday in a plea to neighboring countries to open their borders even to those without documentation.

Iran, Pakistan and Tajikistan have deported increasing numbers of Afghans since August, following the Taliban takeover, it said.

The UNHCR called for a halt to deportations saying Afghans may face persecution in their homeland where religious and ethnic minorities and activists have been targeted.

"UNHCR urges all countries receiving Afghan new arrivals to keep their borders open to those in need of international protection," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement.