ISLAMABAD – Three US officials are arriving in Pakistan this week to bolster bilateral relations and discuss the issue of Afghan deportations, Pakistan’s Foreign Office has confirmed.
The Foreign Office spokesperson said on Sunday the upcoming interactions between Pakistani and American officials are part of the dialogue over a range of issues.
US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration Julieta Valls Noyes will be in Islamabad for a series of meetings from December 4 to 7, the State Department announced on Friday. The purpose of her visit is to discuss “shared efforts to protect vulnerable individuals and accelerate safe, efficient relocation and resettlement of Afghan refugees in the US immigration pipeline”.
Noyes’ visit would be followed by Special US Representative on Afghanistan Tom West, who is scheduled to be in Pakistan from December 7 to 9. And then Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Horst plans to visit Islamabad from December 9 to 12.
These visits by the US officials come weeks after Pakistan launched a deportation drive against “illegal immigrants” for security reasons, affecting the lives of a number of Afghans who left their country after the Taliban swept back to power after US and NATO troops failed to win the 20 years long war and ultimately pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2020.
Fearing reprisals from the Taliban administration, the US government urged the Pakistani authorities not to repatriate people who actively collaborated with its forces during 20 years of their military operations in Afghanistan.
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“Pakistan and the United States continue to hold consultations on a range of issues,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement on Sunday. She said, “To advance these consultations, exchange of visits also takes place.”
Baloch said, “These visits are part of ongoing dialogue with the US on a range of issues including, but not limited to, the situation in Afghanistan.”
A number of international rights organizations have criticised Pakistan over arrest and deportation of Afghan nationals and harassment complaints by registered refugees.