Give Afghans more time to leave, Taliban tells Pakistan

Afghanistan's Taliban government on Wednesday urged Pakistan to give undocumented Afghans in the country more time to leave as Islamabad sets up processing centers for the mass deportation.

In a statement, Taliban authorities thanked Pakistan and other countries that have hosted millions of Afghans who fled their country during decades of conflict, but "asked them to not forcibly deport Afghans with little notice but to give them time to prepare."

The Pakistani government has given 1.7 million Afghans it says are living illegally in the country until 1 November to leave voluntarily or be forcibly removed.

More than 130,000 people have left Pakistan since the order was given at the start of October, according to border officials in the towns of Torkham and Chaman, creating bottlenecks on either side of the crossings.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government said holding centers where Afghans would be held for one or two days for processing, would open from 1 November.

"If someone refuses (to leave) they will be detained and deported. The combing operation against illegal Afghans will start from tomorrow," Feroz Jamal told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday.

More than 80 percent of those already gone have left via the northern Torkham border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the majority of Afghan migrants live.

Pakistan has said the deportations are to protect the country's "welfare and security" after a sharp rise in attacks, which the government blames on militants operating from Afghanistan.