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November 7, 2026

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US plans first deportation flight of Afghan refugees to Pakistan — and critics fear what happens next

Faizan Altaf

The United States is preparing to put Afghan immigrants and asylum seekers on a deportation flight to Pakistan — the first flight of its kind — and it could leave as early as Monday, 2 November. That is what a senior Trump administration official confirmed to NBC News on 31 October, in reporting now picked up around the world, including by The New York Times, Bloomberg and Pakistan’s Express Tribune.

The plan has set off alarm among refugee advocates, lawyers and some US lawmakers. Their fear is simple: Pakistan is already sending Afghans back across the border in large numbers. If the United States flies people to Pakistan, many of them may end up in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan — the very country they fled.

The US government has not publicly announced the flight. The Department of Homeland Security has declined to confirm it. Pakistan’s government has not publicly commented on the reported plan.

At a glance

  • What happened: NBC News reported on 31 October 2026 that the Trump administration is preparing a charter flight carrying Afghan immigrants and asylum seekers to Pakistan, possibly as early as Monday, 2 November. A senior administration official confirmed the preparations.
  • Why it matters: The United States has no diplomatic relations with the Taliban government in Kabul, so it cannot easily fly deportees directly to Afghanistan. Pakistan is being used as the route instead — but Pakistan has itself returned more than 2.7 million Afghans since September 2023, according to UN figures. Critics say the deportees could be sent onward to Afghanistan, where they may face detention, torture or worse.
  • What happens next: Advocates are watching flight-tracking data and court filings. The first flight, if it goes ahead, is expected on Monday. Legal challenges are likely, and the US midterm elections take place on Tuesday, 3 November.

What we know so far

The story first surfaced through lawyers and refugee advocates. On 29 October, Human Rights First said it was “extremely concerned by reports from attorneys” that the administration was preparing to forcibly remove hundreds of Afghans to Afghanistan through a deportation flight via Pakistan. The organisation said those targeted could include Afghans who had sought safety in the United States and family members of Afghan allies who worked alongside US military forces and aid organisations.

Then, on Friday 31 October, NBC News reported that a senior administration official had confirmed the plan. According to NBC, the flight would be the first of its kind — the first time this administration has used a flight to Pakistan to return Afghans to the region since US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.

The reports do not agree on an exact number: NBC News spoke of “dozens” on the first flight, The Hill reported more than 150 Afghans held in Louisiana, and Human Rights First, citing attorneys, spoke of “hundreds.” What they agree on is the shape of the operation: detainees gathered in one place, a charter flight, Pakistan as the destination, and a departure that could come within days.

The Department of Homeland Security has not confirmed any of it. A spokesperson told The New York Times that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “does not comment on prospective removal operations, including flight schedules, passenger manifests, destinations, or individual case details.” The flight has not been officially announced, and no passenger list has been made public.

Who is on the list?

According to the reporting, the people facing removal include relatives of Afghans who worked with American forces during the 20-year war in Afghanistan. That detail matters, because the United States made public promises to protect its Afghan allies after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. Tens of thousands of Afghans were evacuated to the US in the weeks after the fall of Kabul, and many more have arrived since through refugee and visa programmes.

NBC News spoke to one woman, identified only as Charlotte, whose husband has been held in detention and now faces deportation despite having a long-standing asylum case. It is one of several cases lawyers have raised in which people with pending asylum claims are among those being prepared for removal.

In the days before the NBC report, at least 80 Afghans were moved from 34 ICE facilities around the country to a detention centre in Louisiana, according to Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac. VanDiver told NBC News that 19 of those transferred arrived without legal representation. The Louisiana facility is now holding hundreds of Afghan nationals, and the centralisation of detainees there is widely read as preparation for a coordinated removal.

The administration has already used third-country deportations for Afghans. NBC News reported that one Afghan man had previously been sent to Africa — his brother had fought the Taliban as a US-allied pilot.

Why Pakistan?

The answer is geography and diplomacy. The United States has no diplomatic relations with the Taliban government, and no US embassy in Kabul. It cannot simply fly deportees into Afghanistan. Pakistan, which shares a long border with Afghanistan and has hosted millions of Afghan refugees for more than four decades, is the practical route.

But that route is exactly what worries critics. The senior administration official who confirmed the flight to NBC News also said the charter flight could not land in Pakistan without the Pakistani government’s knowledge and approval. What Pakistan has agreed to — and what it intends to do with the people on the plane — has not been publicly explained. Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its embassy in Washington did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment.

Pakistan’s own record on Afghan returns is not in doubt. In September 2023, Islamabad announced its Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan, ordering undocumented foreigners — most of them Afghans — to leave. A joint UNHCR-IOM report found that about 2,744,068 Afghans had returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan between 15 September 2023 and 17 October 2026. In a single week in mid-October, 3,883 Afghans returned through the Torkham, Chaman and Bahramcha crossings, including 499 deportations.

The returns have not stopped at undocumented migrants. Earlier this year, Pakistan said it would deport nearly 20,000 Afghan refugees who were awaiting resettlement in the United States, according to a report in The Nation newspaper. Some Afghans who had been promised safe passage to the US — including people who worked on US-funded projects — have already been sent back, after Washington paused refugee admissions. For the people who may be put on the US flight, that record is the core of the fear: arriving in Pakistan may be only a stop on the way to Afghanistan.

The reaction: “They know what happens to the people on them”

The response from refugee advocates has been blunt. AfghanEvac criticised the reported plan in a statement on Friday, accusing the administration of preparing the flight while public attention was focused on the US midterm elections, “hoping no one is watching.”

“The government won’t say where these flights land, because it knows what happens to the people on them when they do,” the organisation said.

Its president, Shawn VanDiver, put it more directly to NBC News: “You don’t have to be that smart to figure out that they’re sending them to Pakistan so that Pakistan will finish the job.”

Human Rights First warned that people returned to Afghanistan face “grave, systematic dangers, including arbitrary detentions, executions, public flogging, and retaliatory violence.” Its president and chief executive, Uzra Zeya, said the administration was “effectuating removals to active war zones and severe security crises where individuals may be at grave risk” by arranging removals through countries such as Kuwait, Qatar and now Pakistan.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president of the refugee resettlement organisation Global Refuge, warned that the consequences for deportees could be “prison, torture, or worse.”

In the US Senate, Democrat Richard Blumenthal accused the administration of betraying a promise. “We made a promise to our Afghan allies — that after aiding and protecting our troops during the conflict in Afghanistan, America would not abandon them,” he said.

The administration’s own words, as reported by NBC News, have done little to calm the criticism. A senior official, speaking anonymously, told the network: “These individuals do not have status in our country, therefore we don’t really care what happens to them.” Asked about the possible consequences for those sent back, the official added: “I don’t think they care.”

A wider pattern, not a one-off

The reported Pakistan flight does not stand alone. It fits into a broader set of moves by the administration on Afghan refugees that have been unfolding for months.

One strand concerns Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, where Afghan refugees have been housed while their cases were processed. The State Department first said everyone would be removed from the camp by 31 March, then extended the deadline to 30 September, and in September postponed the camp’s closure by another nine months. Earlier this year, it also considered transferring Afghan refugees from the camp to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an Ebola outbreak had been reported — an idea that was not carried out.

The timing has also drawn attention. The first flight to Pakistan could leave on Monday 2 November — one day before the US midterm elections on Tuesday 3 November. AfghanEvac’s statement explicitly linked the two, saying the administration was acting “hoping no one is watching” while the public’s attention was on the vote. The administration has not responded to that claim.

What is still unknown

For all the reporting, several basic facts remain unconfirmed, and any reader should keep them in mind:

  • The exact number of people. Reports variously say dozens, more than 150, or hundreds. No official passenger list exists.
  • The date. “As early as Monday” is the most specific timing reported. The flight has not been officially announced, and it could slip.
  • Pakistan’s role. The flight needs Pakistan’s knowledge and approval to land, according to the senior official who spoke to NBC News. But what Islamabad has agreed to, and what will happen to the deportees on arrival, has not been publicly stated by either government.
  • The legal basis. The administration has not publicly explained the legal authority for sending Afghans to Pakistan rather than to Afghanistan, or for removing people with pending asylum claims. Legal challenges are widely expected if the flight goes ahead.
  • Who exactly is on board. The identities and case histories of the detainees have not been released. Lawyers say some have long-standing asylum cases; the administration says those involved “do not have status.”

What happens next

The immediate test is Monday. Flight-tracking organisations, including Human Rights First’s ICE Flight Monitor, have said they will watch for the flight in real time. If a charter aircraft leaves Louisiana for Pakistan, the plan will be confirmed.

Lawyers for the detainees are also expected to seek emergency court orders to stop the removals. In the past, last-minute legal action has delayed or blocked deportation flights, and the legal questions here — removing people with pending asylum claims, and sending them to a third country from which they may be returned to danger — are the kind courts have been asked to decide before.

Beyond Monday, the bigger question is whether this becomes a regular route. If the first flight goes ahead without being stopped, more flights could follow. Pakistan, for its part, will face a choice it has so far avoided commenting on in public: accept the arrivals and decide their fate, or push back against being used as a transit point to Afghanistan.

Frequently asked questions

Is the United States really deporting Afghan refugees to Pakistan?

According to NBC News, yes — the administration is preparing a charter flight carrying Afghan immigrants and asylum seekers to Pakistan, possibly as early as Monday, 2 November 2026. A senior administration official confirmed the preparations. The flight has not been officially announced, and the Department of Homeland Security has declined to comment.

Why Pakistan, and not Afghanistan directly?

The United States has no diplomatic relations with the Taliban government and no embassy in Kabul, so it cannot easily send deportation flights directly to Afghanistan. Pakistan borders Afghanistan and has hosted Afghan refugees for decades, making it the practical route.

How many people are involved?

Reports differ. NBC News spoke of dozens of people on the first flight. The Hill reported more than 150 Afghans detained in Louisiana in connection with the removals. Human Rights First, citing attorneys, spoke of hundreds. At least 80 Afghans were recently moved from 34 ICE facilities to Louisiana, according to AfghanEvac.

What is the danger for the deportees?

Critics say Pakistan is already sending Afghans back to Afghanistan in large numbers — about 2.74 million returns since September 2023, according to UNHCR and IOM. If the deportees are sent onward, they could face the Taliban. Human Rights First warns of arbitrary detention, executions, public flogging and retaliatory violence.

Has Pakistan agreed to accept the flight?

That is not publicly known. The senior US official who spoke to NBC News said the charter flight could not land in Pakistan without the Pakistani government’s knowledge and approval. Pakistan’s foreign ministry and its embassy in Washington did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment.

What has the US government said?

Very little on the record. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told The New York Times that ICE “does not comment on prospective removal operations.” A senior administration official, speaking anonymously to NBC News, said: “These individuals do not have status in our country, therefore we don’t really care what happens to them.”

Who is speaking out against the plan?

AfghanEvac, Human Rights First and Global Refuge have all condemned the reported plan. Senator Richard Blumenthal said it betrayed a promise made to Afghan allies. Lawyers for detainees are expected to seek court orders to stop the removals.

Conclusion

The reported deportation flight to Pakistan is, on the facts available, a small operation with very large implications. A few dozen — or a few hundred — people are at its centre. But the questions it raises go far beyond one plane: whether the United States will keep a promise made to its Afghan allies, whether Pakistan will become a transit route for removals to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, and whether people with pending asylum claims can be sent to a country that is already returning Afghans in their millions.

None of those questions has an answer yet. The flight has not been officially confirmed, Pakistan has not said what it will do, and the courts have not had their say. What is certain is that the world will be watching on Monday — and that for the Afghans in detention in Louisiana, the wait is nearly over.

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.

Sources

Faizan Altaf

Faizan Altaf is the founder and author of findivoza.com, a news blog covering world, Pakistan, business, technology, health and sport in plain English. He writes for general readers who want clear, trustworthy news without jargon. His work focuses on explaining what happened, why it matters, and what to watch next.

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