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Pakistan’s eternal foreign policy controversy, i.e. its Afghan policy, or ‘Afghan problem’ (depending on who you ask), has been back in the news. There are arguments on both sides of the political and policy divide which oppose and support the opening of borders and the presence of millions of refugees inside Pakistan. But with a change in the foreign policy outlook toward the Afghan Taliban regime, allegedly for not acting against militant outfits who target Pakistani forces on a near-daily basis, there is also a rethink about illegal Afghans present in the country; those without any travel documents or registration with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR).

For many human rights activists and international agencies, it is the manner and timing that raises the most questions about the abrupt change in a policy that Pakistan pursued for well over 44 years. So, what changed now and how was it different then?

There were humanitarian, security and strategic issues that shaped and defined Pakistan’s response to the Soviet-Afghan war. The Soviet aerial bombing, its ‘scorched-earth’ campaign, had the clear military purpose of driving rural populations out of the valleys, mountains, and border regions to urban areas and into Pakistan to deny Afghan fighters space to attack invading forces. At the time, the refugee........

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