Afghans who fled to Pakistan now find their lives blocked at every turn

Refugees from the country know they were lucky to escape the Taliban, but now find themselves homeless, stateless and broke.

By Lynne O'Donnell

Pakistani health workers administer the polio vaccine to Afghan refugees. (Photo by SOHAIL SHAHZAD/EPA-EFE)

ISLAMABAD – In a small hotel on the upper floors of a commercial centre in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, a group of Afghans that fled from Kabul after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan are anxiously waiting to restart their lives.

They hardly sleep, they say, and are often ill from the stress, the food, the change in climate. These five families, some of them with three generations, were evacuated from Kabul with the help of a Canadian charity, between 15 and 25 September, and came only with what they could carry.