“Pakistan has ordered all unauthorised Afghan asylum seekers – an estimated 1.7 million people – to leave the country by November,” according to BBC Oct. 4, 2023. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti has announced a crackdown on “illegal” migrants, citing a spike in attacks along the border between the two countries. The Taliban government has urged Pakistan to reconsider its “unacceptable” move, as Afghanistan’s rulers have repeatedly denied providing refuge for militants targeting Pakistan. Pakistan has taken in hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees during decades of war, particularly since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. However, 1.7 million people are in the country “illegally”, and those who have not yet gained refugee status will have to leave the country by the end of the month. A taskforce has been announced to identify and confiscate private businesses and assets of “illegal” Afghans in the country. Local authorities have already begun rounding up Afghans, and Islamabad eventually wanted all Afghans in the country to leave, even those with legal status and Pakistan residence cards.