This year, militant attacks along the two countries’ border have escalated tensions.

Taliban regime denies Pakistan’s claims that Afghan operatives are responsible for border crossing attacks.

It has, however, fuelled resentment in Islamabad, which announced a crackdown on “illegal” migrants on Tuesday.

A blast at a mosque in Mastung city, near the Afghan border, killed at least 50 people last week.

On Tuesday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti did not explicitly mention that attack or another in the Balochistan province when he announced a crackdown on “illegal” Afghans.

International law protects the right to seek refuge in a foreign country. Thousands of Afghan refugees have been taken in by Pakistan since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

According to the UN, 1.3 million Afghans are registered as refugees while 880,000 have received legal status.

On Tuesday, Minister Bugti claimed that another 1.7 million people are in the country “illegally” – presumably those who have not yet been granted refugee status.

Those people would have to leave the country by the end of the month, either voluntarily or by force.

In response to state media reports, he said that if they do not go, all law enforcement agencies in the provinces or the federal government would be used to deport them. Further details about how such an operation would be conducted were not provided.

In addition, he announced a task force to identify and confiscate private businesses and assets of “illegal” Afghans.