A Pakistani woman receives charity food at the Bari Imam shrine in Islamabad on October 5, 2018. Pakistan is kicking out 18 international charities after rejecting their final appeal to stay in the country. (AAMIR QURESHI / AFP

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan is kicking out 18 international charities after rejecting their final appeal to stay in the country.

The shuttered groups are mainly US-based, from Britain and Europe. Another 20 groups are at risk of also being expelled after authorities a few months ago singled out some 38 international aid groups for closure, without any explanation.

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Umair Hasan, spokesman for Pakistan Humanitarian Foundation, an umbrella representing 15 of the charities, said on Thursday that the move will affect millions of poor Pakistanis and lead to tens of millions of aid dollars lost.

Pakistani security forces are still stinging from a 2011 covert operation that involved a Pakistani doctor, an aid group and a vaccination scam to identify Osama bin Laden's home, aiding US Navy Seals who tracked and later killed him.

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