Pakistan is in contact with its allies and partners over a United States plan to deport about 150 Afghan citizens to Kabul via Pakistan, the Foreign Office said on Friday. A spokesperson told a briefing in Islamabad that discussions were continuing on all aspects of the matter and that a route acceptable to all parties would be found.

The Afghans, held in detention facilities in Louisiana, were scheduled to be flown to Pakistan and then taken on to Afghanistan, according to advocacy groups cited by Al Jazeera. The United States has no diplomatic relations with Taliban-governed Afghanistan, so it cannot deport people there directly. Under the arrangement described in US court filings, Pakistan would receive the detainees and oversee their onward movement to the border.

Lawmakers and courts intervene

A group of 66 US lawmakers has written to the Trump administration asking it to halt the planned deportations. In their letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the lawmakers said sending people back to Afghanistan, where they were likely to be targeted over suspected support for the US government, would be a death sentence.

Some of those facing removal worked alongside coalition forces or in the former Afghan government, according to the AfghanEvac advocacy group. A US federal judge temporarily blocked the removals on 3 November, with the order running until 7 November, according to reports. Human Rights First said a flight carrying some of the Afghans from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Pakistan was scheduled for Tuesday.

Pakistan's wider Afghan policy

Pakistan has deported millions of Afghans in recent years as relations with the Taliban government have deteriorated. The Foreign Office gave no details of any transit arrangement or what would happen to the detainees on arrival.