‘Over 170,000 Afghans hiding in Pakistan’

TORKHAM: Following the Taliban’s rise to power in August 2021, Torkham border has witnessed around 280,000 Afghani passport bearers entering Pakistan. Official data suggests nearly 110,000 from this total have returned back to Afghanistan so far, leaving approximately 170,000 individuals unaccounted for living in different parts of Pakistan.

Sources speculate a significant number of these remaining Afghan nationals might be linked to various armed militant groups active within Pakistan, although their numbers and locations are yet to be substantiated with confirmed data.

In response to these developments, Pakistan has escalated its border security measures. Around 13,800 checkposts have been established along the length of the Pak-Afghan border. These checkposts have helped Pakistani security apparatus thwart around 23 infiltration attempts just in the past week as figures provided by security officials.

These newly set up checkpoints are anticipated to regulate and monitor the cross-border movement more effectively.