Nasreen GhufranSupervisor Dr Adnan Sarwar Khan2026-09-022026-09-022004-10http://repository.uop.edu.pk/123456789/521The presence of Afghan refugees for over two decades has created political and economic problems for Pakistan. The political benefits of hosting refugees reaped by various governments have been less if compared to the political cost they paid for decades. A natural and durable solution to end the refugee cycle is ‘repatriation.’ However, repatriation as a solution is not free from the politics of host and home countries. Pakistan’s repatriation policy has been dictated by the political stake it has had in Afghanistan. It has remained hostage to its overall Afghan policy. Refugees have been treated according to the policies of the various governments. Refugees have been welcomed and pushed back whenever it suited the political leadership of the host.Pakistan has on and off been stressing repatriation of Afghans, but so far it has not been able to achieve its desired objective. The government has started to realize that the longer the Afghans stay, the greater will be the political, security, economic and social repercussions for Pakistan. As the international community has lost interest in funding and assisting Afghans in the host country, and has shown interest in supporting them provided they repatriate and reintegrate in their home society, refugees are therefore, motivated to return. Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States and the international community – all have political interest in the Afghan repatriation. Pakistan, now an ally of the United States, in its War against Terrorism, and supportive of the political changes that occurred after the Taliban regime collapsed, has encouraged the refugees return. Previously too, when the Afghan governments had the political backing of Pakistan e.g. Mujahideen and then the Taliban, it made attempts to make refugees go back. However, political instability in Afghanistan has been a major roadblock to comprehensive and sustainable repatriation. Afghanistan needs back the large refugee population living in the neighboring countries to establish its political credibility. The international community is ready to pour in aid and invest in Afghanistan for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of its displaced population, because they do not want continued assistance to Afghan refugees. They want to shed their economic burden and dissociate themselves from Afghan politics. Repatriation has been an on-going process for Afghans since the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989. However, massive returns occurred only in the years 1992-93 and 2002-2003. Two major political developments occurred in Afghanistan during these periods – one, in 1992 the Mujahideen government came in power after President Najibullah stepped down. Mujahideen had all along been opposing the Socialist government. Refugees started returning in large numbers but soon became disappointed as internecine conflict began due to the power wrangling among the various factions of mujahideen. In October 2001 the United Stated attacked Afghanistan for not allegedly cooperating in handing over Osama bin Laden – head of the Al-Qaeda network, and who had been held responsible for the terrorist attacks on the United States (Twin Towers of New York and Pentagon in Washington) on 11, September 2001. The Taliban regime soon collapsed and Hamid Karzai, a moderate Pushtun leader, was made head of the interim government in November 2001. For refugees in Pakistan it was seen as a major political change, particularly those who had fled Afghanistan during the Taliban period, to return and resume their lives in normalcy. As a result a major repatriation program started which still continues at the time of writing this thesis. While the political situation is still not stable enough to provide the required protection and security to returnees, yet the Karzai regime is making efforts to attract more returnees and make them resettle. It is not to say that it has been completely successful, as large numbers still need to be repatriated and recycling has to be stopped. In cooperation with the government of Pakistan and UNHCR, the transitional government in Afghanistan is making every effort to bring stability and establish political credibility. However, the challenges are grave and need to be tackled skillfully to make repatriation successful. If Pakistan actually desires a comprehensive and sustainable return of Afghan refugees, then it definitely needs to reassess its Afghan policy. As long as it remains a political stakeholder in Afghanistan, repatriation of Afghans will remain a major issue to be resolved.enThesis