Pakistani security forces rounded up, arrested and deported dozens of Afghans living illegally in the country on Wednesday as the government's deadline to leave passed, officials said.
Islamabad says the sweep is part of a new anti-immigrant crackdown targeting all illegal or undocumented foreigners, although it primarily affects the roughly two million Afghans who are in Pakistan without documents.
The aid measure has drawn widespread criticism from UN agencies, human rights groups and the Taliban-led Afghan administration.
Pakistan's interior minister confirmed that deportations had begun.

"Today we said goodbye to 64 Afghan nationals as they began their journey home," caretaker interior minister Sarfraz Bugti wrote to X. "This action indicates Pakistan's determination to repatriate all people living in the country without proper documentation."

Officials said Wednesday's sweep was conducted in the port city of Karachi, the garrison city of Rawalpindi and several areas in southwestern Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which border Afghanistan.
By Tuesday, thousands of Afghans piled into trucks and buses and headed for two key border crossings to return home to avoid arrest and deportation.

According to UN agencies, there are more than two million illegal Afghans in Pakistan, of whom at least 6,00,000 fled after the Taliban took over in 2021.
Human Right Watch accused Pakistan on Tuesday of "using threats, abuse and detention to force Afghan asylum seekers without legal status" to return to Afghanistan. The New York-based watchdog appealed to authorities to delay the deadline and work with the UN refugee agency to register those without papers. In Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban government, expressed concern about the forced deportation of Afghans, saying that over the past 45 years, wars and conflicts in Afghanistan have forced millions of people to migrate.

He added that Afghan migrants did not cause problems in their host countries. Without naming Pakistan, he called on host countries to "stop the violent expulsion of Afghan refugees" and practice "tolerance based on Islamic and neighborly ways".

Mujahid said that all Afghans in exile "due to political concerns" were welcome back and that the Taliban would ensure a "safe environment in Afghanistan" for everyone.
Late on Tuesday, a Taliban delegation traveled from the capital Kabul to the eastern province of Nangarhar to seek solutions to repatriate Afghans. The provincial deputy governor, Ahmad Banwari, told local media that authorities were working to set up temporary camps. Banwari said those returning from Afghanistan with families who have nowhere to go can stay in the camps for a month while they find a place to live.
Relations between Pakistan and the Taliban-led regime in Afghanistan have been strained over the past two years due to increased attacks by the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group linked to the Afghan Taliban.
The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, have found a safe haven in neighboring Afghanistan, from where they sneak across the volatile border to launch deadly attacks on Pakistani troops.
More than 2,00,000 Afghans have returned home from Pakistan since the government announced the October 3 deadline.
Pakistan said the deportations would be carried out "gradually and systematically" and that the detainees would be treated comfortably during the crackdown. However, on Tuesday, authorities demolished several mud-brick houses belonging to Afghans on the outskirts of Islamabad to force them to leave the country.
The campaign has also worried thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan who are awaiting transfer to the United States under a special refugee program after fleeing their homeland from a Taliban takeover.