Afghans return to Taliban rule as Pakistan moves to expel 1.7 million

Afghan people gather to board a bus to return home, after Pakistan gave the last warning to undocumented migrants to leave, at a bus stop in Karachi, Pakistan October 25, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - As the clock ticked down to the Nov. 1 deadline Pakistan set for undocumented migrants to leave the country, Muhammad Rahim boarded a bus from Karachi to the Afghan border.

"We'd live here our whole life if they didn't send us back," said the 35-year-old Afghan national, who was born in Pakistan, married a Pakistani woman and raised his Pakistan-born children in the port city - but has no Pakistani identity documents.