In One Image Homecoming By Elise Blanchard

       They were going the wrong way.

       That wall marks the border with Pakistan. Where they had been. Where they wanted to be.

       But for the seven families jammed into this truck, Afghanistan was home again. Even if they had nowhere to go.

       Clothes, a rusted iron bed frame, a fan. When Pakistan ordered them out, they packed everything they might need.

       Everything.

       Supported by

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

       Homecoming

       Share full article

       Read in app

       April 7, 2024, 12:01 a.m. ET

       For years, hundreds of thousands of Afghans fleeing the turmoil of war crossed the border into Pakistan, hoping to start over again. Many of them succeeded in doing so.

       Now, Pakistan is cracking down.

       Over the past half-year, more than half a million undocumented Afghans, ordered by the Pakistani government to leave, have returned home — even if “home” is the country they once escaped, and one that has little more to offer them now.

       Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.

       A version of this article appears in print on April 7, 2024, Section A, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: Homecoming. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

       Share full article

       Read in app

       Advertisement

       SKIP ADVERTISEMENT