Afghan Refugees in Pakistan: Not All Refugees, Not Always in Pakistan, Not Necessarily Afghan?

In 2001, there were estimated to be two million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. In the past six years, however, over 3.5 million refugees have returned, and recent census data show that nearly 2.5 million still remain in Pakistan. Three straightforward explanations for this monumental discrepancy have been posited: Afghans’ high birthrates, their history of cross-border migration, and increasing levels of urbanization in Pakistan. Yet the fact that none of these processes comes as a surprise to researchers familiar with the history of Afghan refugees begs a still deeper question: how and why were these processes so utterly overlooked in 2001? The answer, it is argued, is a fundamental confusion not only in how we count refugees but in how we conceptualize them. The dichotomous distinction between refugees and non-refugees, while possessing a certain legal clarity, does a poor job of describing the reality of individuals whose movements are influenced by numerous social, political, and economic factors.