Afghans in Danger of Taliban Persecution: Urgent Recommendations to Save Lives, Uphold International Law, and Advance U.S. Interests

Executive Summary

Afghans who previously fled their country are in danger of forced return to Taliban persecution due to the Government of Pakistan’s mass expulsions and the Trump administration’s refugee resettlement freeze. That freeze left Afghans who are waiting to be resettled or relocated to the United States stranded in Pakistan and now facing the danger of expulsion to persecution. The Trump administration’s May 12 termination of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghan nationals heightens alarms that at-risk Afghans will be delivered to Taliban persecution and sets a dangerous example for other countries around the world. As outlined below:

• Afghans face worsening dangers if returned, as human rights monitors have documented recently, including public flogging, forced conversion, arbitrary detentions, executions, and other forms of persecution, torture, or retaliation. Women and girls face an oppressive new law, systematic denial of rights, prohibitions on education, employment, travel, and health care, and bans on singing or speaking in public. Religious freedom for all Afghans declined
• Afghans in danger of Taliban persecution include women and girls, human rights defenders, journalists, religious minorities and other Afghans who do not share the Taliban’s interpretation of Islam, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ persons, civil society leaders, women’s rights advocates, Afghans who previously worked with the former Afghan government, Afghan national security forces, international military forces or were associated with the international community, and Afghans who worked with the U.S. military and government. An estimated 25,000 Afghans are reportedly awaiting U.S. resettlement or relocation in Pakistan. An estimated 200,000 Afghans are stranded in Afghanistan and other countries awaiting U.S. relocation or resettlement.
• The risks of return to persecution and retaliation will only escalate in the wake of the Pakistani government’s massive expulsions and the passing of its April 30 deadline for Afghans in Pakistan to be relocated to the United States or other foreign nations. Pakistan reportedly plans to expel three million Afghans by the end of the year. On May 13, the Pakistani Interior Minister said that 1,002,230 Afghans had been deported over the last six months. In April 2025 alone, UNHCR reported that more than 251,000 Afghans were returned in adverse circumstances from Iran and Pakistan. One Afghan deported to Afghanistan even though he was awaiting U.S. resettlement recounted that he “showed the letter which was emailed to us by [the] State Department to exempt us from deportation, but all the Pakistani authorities, including police, was laughing.”
• Adherence to international law is essential to securing and advancing U.S. national interest, as is the swift restoration of resettlement, relocation initiatives, and humanitarian aid. Forced and premature returns that violate international law endanger lives, risk destabilizing the region, and heighten onward movements. Abandoning Afghans who put their lives on the line to work with the U.S. government and military, or to support human rights and democracy, will undermine trust in the United States and make it much more difficult for the United States to enlist allies and partners in the future. Indeed, U.S. veterans who served in Afghanistan, as well as U.S. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, have implored that the United States must honor the promises it has made.

Human Rights First’s recommendations, outlined in greater detail at the end of this document, include:

• The United States, the Government of Pakistan, and other countries must uphold international law’s prohibitions against returns to persecution and torture.
• The United States should press Pakistan to halt expulsions of at-risk Afghans, including those awaiting resettlement or relocation, and adhere to international law nonrefoulement (non-return) prohibitions. The Trump Administration must also restore crucial U.S. humanitarian aid, restart swift U.S. resettlement, conduct prompt relocation of at-risk Afghans—including but not limited to those who worked with the U.S. government and military—and continue the congressionally authorized Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE)
• The Trump administration must uphold refugee and asylum law at home and reverse its alarming decision to rescind TPS protection for Afghan nationals.
• Members of Congress should press the administration to take these steps and others detailed below, including to restart refugee resettlement and continue the congressionally authorized CARE.

Download the full brief below.