‘After 45 years, this isn’t our land’

A deported Afghan refugee waiting beside a halted passenger truck near the Torkham border crossing in Pakistan.

AS Pakistan and Afghanistan escalate military clashes and close their borders, Pakis­tani authorities have intensified mass expul­sions of Afghans, saying they can no longer accommodate the decades-­old refugee community.

So far this year, around one million of the three million Afghans living in Pakis­tan have been deported or forced to return to Afghanistan, a country where many have never lived in and where jobs and affordable housing are scarce amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.