Pakistan has told all unauthorised Afghan migrants that they must leave the country by the end of October.

Imagine if France announced in the wake of a terrorist attack that it was expelling all Algerians. There would be uproar across the world

The announcement was made on Tuesday, and affects as many 1.7 million men, women and children. The Pakistan government prefers to describe them as ‘illegal’ migrants rather than asylum seekers, and justifies the decision because of an increase in terrorist attacks along the Pakistan-Afghan border. There have been 24 suicide bombings in this region since the start of 2023, and the Pakistan military says more than half of the terrorist attacks were committed by Afghan citizens, most of whom belonged to either the Islamic State or the Pakistan Taliban.

According to the BBC, one of the very few Western media outlets to report the expulsion order, Pakistan’s government eventually wants all Afghan to leave, even those who have official Pakistan residence cards.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti has given the Afghans a month to go.

‘If they do not go,’ he said, ‘then all the law enforcement agencies in the provinces or federal government will be utilised to deport them.’

Bugti also stated that the businesses and homes of ‘illegal aliens will be confiscated, and illegal business operators and their facilitators will be prosecuted.’

The Taliban have criticised the decision. ‘The behaviour of Pakistan towards Afghan refugees is unacceptable,’ said Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the regime in Kabul. ‘Afghan refugees are not involved in Pakistan’s security problems.’

While the Taliban called on Pakistan to respect the human rights of its citizens, the response was muted from the United Nations.

Volker Türk, the organisation’s High Commissioner for Human Rights – and a vocal critic of the British government’s attempt to tackle illegal immigration – attended a conference on Wednesday in Madrid to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In his speech Turk urged Europe to eradicate racism and do more to champion the rights of migrants and refugees. ‘We know that if there is political will they can be managed and resolved if people and states can overcome disputes and share the work of building a path toward solutions,’ he said. ‘I hope 2023 will be remembered as the turning point that renewed our commitment to solving challenges through human rights.’

He made no reference to Pakistan’s expulsion of 1.7 million Afghans, and nor has he, at the time of writing, commented on his Twitter page, an outlet he uses frequently to warn about the perils of climate change.

In a statement, Amnesty international said it was ’deeply concerning that the situation of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is not receiving due international attention.’

One might regard the UN lack of response as astonishing, were it not for the fact, as I wrote recently, the organisation was long ago been captured by the progressive left.

In his speech in Madrid, Turk deplored the recent ‘despicable incidents’ of Quran burning in Europe; he didn’t appear to mention the Christians in Nigeria who in the last week have been killed or kidnapped. This doesn’t fit his world view, which, like all progressives, is that it’s always the West to blame.

Imagine if, for example, France announced in the wake of a terrorist attack that it was expelling all Algerians. There would be uproar across the world, and particularly in the UN. So why has the western response to Pakistan’s announcement been one of apathy?

The decision to expel the 1.7 million migrants and refuges will almost certainly have ramifications for Europe. In 2022 there were 129,000 asylum applications lodged by Afghans in the EU, second only to those from Syria. There are also large numbers of Afghans entering Europe illegally, crossing the Mediterranean into Italy, as noted by Frontex, the EU’s border agency. According to Britain’s Refugee Council, Afghans comprise the largest number of people crossing the Channel in small boats.

As Pakistan began expelling its Afghan migrants and refugees, the EU finally put the seal on a deal that the Guardian described as a ‘historic agreement on how member states will deal with a sudden increase in the number of people seeking asylum’. The deal has been three years in the making and its aim is to establish an efficient framework to manage a sudden mass influx of migrants and refugees.

It may not be long before the deal is put to the test as 1.7 million Afghans expelled from Pakistan search for a new home.