Amidst the backdrop of Afghanistan’s political upheaval, this policy brief delves into the precarious situation of Afghan nationals in Pakistan and emphasises the importance for policy approaches targeting this group to take this wider context into account. Afghans in Pakistan are making migration decisions related to return and onward migration in a constrained environment, and therefore have particular information needs that could support and empower their decision-making process. Indeed, despite international efforts to provide protection and assistance, Afghan refugees continue to face hurdles in accessing legal pathways to migration. This policy brief examines existing legal pathways and protection measures, highlights their main gaps and challenges, and advocates the need to enhance humanitarian support and improve integration efforts. The brief underscores the importance of improving access of Afghans in Pakistan not only to accurate and reliable information on migration but also to concrete legal pathways in order to foster safe and orderly migration.

With the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the humanitarian and economic situation in Afghanistan deteriorated rapidly. Recent estimates of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs suggest that 28.3 million people (two-thirds of the country’s population) need urgent humanitarian assistance.1 Far from being isolated, the situation in Afghanistan intertwines with – and risks further compromising – the precarious stability of the region. More than forty years of local and international conflicts have displaced millions, both internally and to neighbouring countries: Pakistan and Iran, in particular, are host to millions of Afghan nationals. In more recent years, many Afghans returned home, but others remained in protracted displacement, often without legal recognition and in precarious accommodations. Following the Taliban’s recent takeover, an additional 1.6 million Afghan nationals – including many relatively skilled workers employed in the public administration, service and welfare sectors, or in the foreign diplomatic missions2 – fled to neighbouring countries, overburdening their capacity to host yet more Afghan nationals in need of protection, as well as escalating international concerns over knock-on effects in terms of potential increased irregular migration from Iran and Pakistan to Europe.

Drawing upon research conducted among potential Afghan migrants in Pakistan in the framework of the EU-funded project Awareness Raising and Information Campaigns on the Risks of Irregular Migration in Pakistan (PARIM-II), this policy brief aims at understanding the current context for Afghans in the country, examining the policy frameworks that regulate their potential onwards migration to Europe, and discussing policy conclusions for the establishment of safe, orderly, and regular migratory channels and effective policy responses targeting this population.