Tag: Afghan crisis

  • Children and women will be exempted from bio-metric verification, says Sarfraz Bugti

    The spokesperson for The Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan and caretaker Interior Minister, Sarfraz Bugti, held a discussion with Afghan High Commissioner Ahmed Shakaib, deciding that children and women will be exempted from scanning by NADRA. Only male adults will be scanned for verification.

    “The interior ministry issued directions that females and children below the age of 14 will not be scanned for entry by NADRA. Only male adults would be scanned during the voluntary repatriation,” reported Dawn. Only a “head count” of women and children will be done for record purposes.

    The decision was made keeping in context the heavy influx of Afghan citizens on the borders as the deadline for leaving has passed and deportation has started. A huge number of people are also coming in for voluntary repatriation and it was feared that the situation could spiral out of control. This directive could smoothen the process a bit.

    Authorities are asked to be gentle as any aggression will lead to consequences. A special helpline number has been set up by the ministry and every complaint will be catered to on an emergency basis. The Afghan Embassy has also been asked to send a representative who can work closely with the Interior Ministry.

    So far, 165,000 Afghan immigrants have left for Afghanistan during voluntary repatriation. On Thursday, a total of 19,344 undocumented immigrants left via Torkham.

    Officials at the border crossing in Angoor Adda in KP’s South Waziristan district said that 294 Afghan immigrants, including 129 children, voluntarily left for Afghanistan on Thursday.

    Out of 572 refugees taken into custody, 200 were sent back as they produced valid documents while 384 were sent to Chaman for deportation. 1,176 Afghans volunteered to reach Chaman on their own.

    The crackdown in Punjab will start today as per the officials.

  • US forms a commission of to investigate their failure in Afghanistan

    The US Congress has formed a commission to look into what mistakes were made during the 20-years war in Afghanistan.

    “The Commission shall conduct a comprehensive assessment of the war in Afghanistan and make recommendations to inform future operations with tactical and strategic lessons learned, including the impact of troop increases and decreases and date-certain deadlines,” the legislation said.

    President Joe Biden also reiterated that issue should be investigated within three years.

    The commission will also examine the steps taken by Biden’s three predecessors and what mistakes they might have made in handling Afghan crisis.

    The US Congress has also recommended a $768 billion defense package approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate. It would include nearly $28 billion for a nuclear weapons programs, training, equipment, command and control, advisory efforts and situational awareness.