I have been ordering before and during pandemic, most of the stuff on AliExpress ships from China with some stuff coming from their warehouses in Singapore & Malaysia, regardless everything comes by air and the more the flights the quicker it will reach Pakistan. Since the reduction in flights during pandemic, deliveries are slow.
My experience is: The biggest problem in all of this is the Last Mile Courier being Pakistan Post and that too is Pakistan Post's IMO (International Mail Office) in Karachi. I have had multiple Registered Air Mails showing tracking till IMO then getting stuck in IMO (usually it used to take 1 day in IMO before pandemic). I called Pakistan Post's Helpline 051-111-111-117 or 051-8487080 or 051-8840360 and registered my complaint, nothing happened for 6 days, then I launched complaint on Pakistan Citizen Portal app and the tracking moved in days and I got the mail in 2 days in Islamabad, hand delivered by my local Post Master with apologies and they wanted me to give positive feedback on my complaint on Citizen Portal app LOL. But sadly those things that are ordered via Standard AliExpress Shipping does not show detailed tracking and will have a high probability of non-delivery. A friend in Karachi who works in customs told me that they received specific instructions from Sindh Govt to "hold anything addressed to Punjab or Capital" during start of pandemic, and they have been selling those stuff on OLX, I highly doubt that to be true.
Regarding refunds, AliExpress awards levels to its customers, awarding levels is based on points. the more you spend, higher your level will be. Old levels were A0 to A4, A4 being higher, now it's Silver, Gold, Platinum & Diamond.
Source & Details here. AliExpress deals with dispute/refund differently with different levels, with higher levels given quicker & favourable dispute decisions with more refunds. I am at Platinum and never had a problem with disputes or refunds. Best practice for a refund due to non-delivery is, open dispute after expiration of delivery date but before Purchase Protection runs out, also, always request Seller to extend Purchase Protection before opening dispute, if he does not extend then it will be quick refund coz AliExpress checks your communication with seller during arbitration.