“The Afghan-Pakistani border resembles a refugee camp for over 100 kilometers”

1.7 million Afghans are currently having to leave Pakistan due to a wave of deportations. We help on the ground with tents.

Ann-Kathrin Frank
9. Nov 2023
Afghanistan, Press releases

STELP founder Serkan Eren and his team are currently on an aid mission on the Afghan-Pakistani border. “The mood on the ground is extremely tense. The entire border is like a refugee camp for over 100 kilometers,” reports Serkan Eren.

Around 1.7 million Afghans currently have to leave Pakistan and return to Afghanistan. The reason: Pakistan is threatening to deport all Afghans who have fled to the neighboring country without a residence permit. If they do not leave the country voluntarily, they will be arrested and imprisoned, according to the Pakistani government. The STELP team reports seeing injured people at the border. According to their own statements, they were beaten up by Pakistani security forces.

Now people are gradually returning to the country occupied by the Taliban. But many fled from the Taliban after the takeover, hoping for a better life.

STELP builds tent village for families

According to the Taliban, over 250,000 people have already arrived at the border crossing at Torkham alone, where Eren is currently located. The Taliban and some aid organizations have set up thousands of tents, but they are nowhere near enough. “People are currently living in the open, they have no blankets, they have no roof over their heads,” says Eren.

The Stuttgart-based aid organization has therefore set up a tent village with 180 tents for families with children, pregnant women and sick people.

Those who can afford it have packed their belongings into a van. But most of them carry everything they still own across the border in bags and suitcases.

Global humanitarian aid needed

Those who have not found a place in a tent are taken inland in trucks provided by the Taliban. “Either to their relatives, if they have any, or they are let out on the street in some town,” reports Eren.

“The global focus is not on Afghanistan right now. Nevertheless, we must not forget the people here. The Afghans urgently need humanitarian aid and our support,” says Serkan Eren.