The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council directed medical and dental institutions across the country to expel enrolled Afghan students and suspend new admissions.
The move comes amid deteriorating bilateral ties between Islamabad and Kabul over cross-border security concerns and allegations regarding Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.
King Edward Medical University in Lahore became the first public institution to act, giving 22 Afghan students 24 hours to complete formalities.
Pakistani medical colleges must expel Afghan students. The government instructed institutions nationwide to remove these trainees and stop new intakes as ties with Kabul sour, a senior official said. The directive disrupts hundreds of Afghan undergraduates studying medicine and dentistry, including final-year candidates. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office stated that Afghan nationals holding valid residency and travel papers may still apply for visa extensions under standing regulations.
Bilateral ties have frayed sharply. The expulsion coincides with a broader Pakistani crackdown on undocumented migrants. Islamabad also accuses the Afghan government of harbouring the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, though the Taliban deny providing safe havens.
Council Directive Details
The regulator halted all fresh intakes. The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council instructed healthcare colleges to block Afghan nationals from taking up seats during the ongoing term, a senior health ministry official said. Those currently pursuing degrees in medicine and dentistry must return home, the official added.
The official said the decision was taken in view of deteriorating relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also said the measure applied only to Afghan nationals and not to students from other countries.
Foreign Office Position
Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan told the Dawn newspaper that, under Pakistan's Illegal Foreigner Repatriation Plan, the stay of any foreign national without a valid passport and visa was illegal and such individuals were liable to deportation.
"However, Pakistani authorities are continuing to process visa extension applications from Afghan students in accordance with our existing policy, rules and regulations," he said.
First University Action
King Edward Medical University in Lahore became the first public-sector institution to implement the order, according to a university official.
"Twenty-two Afghan students are currently studying at KEMU, and they have been given 24 hours to complete the necessary legal and administrative formalities," the official told PTI.
Tensions And Deportations
The development comes amid strained relations between Islamabad and Kabul over Pakistan's allegations that the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan operates from sanctuaries on Afghan soil, a charge denied by the Taliban administration. Tensions rose further after a series of explosions in Kabul on October 9 last year and subsequent cross-border exchanges that caused casualties and damage on both sides.
Millions of Afghans have sought refuge in Pakistan over several decades, fleeing successive conflicts, including hundreds of thousands who entered the country after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan launched a large-scale deportation drive against undocumented foreigners in 2023 and renewed it in April last year after cancelling hundreds of thousands of residence permits held by Afghan nationals.
In June, the interior ministry directed authorities to arrest Afghan nationals found living in Pakistan without valid visas from July 10. The order to expel Afghan medical students and stop new admissions adds to the pressure on Afghan nationals in Pakistan, where more than one million Afghan nationals were deported last year alone.
Student Numbers Context
Thousands of Afghans study in Pakistani institutions. As of September 2026, around 7,000 Afghan citizens attend colleges and universities nationwide, with over 200 studying dentistry and medicine. State-sponsored grants fund more than 4,500 of these scholars, largely through the Higher Education Commission's Allama Muhammad Iqbal Scholarships programme.
