UN Warns Mass Returns Push Afghanistan to Humanitarian Brink

DID Press: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned mass return of millions of Afghanistan citizens from Pakistan and Iran has brought this country to the edge of a humanitarian crisis.

Since October 2023, approximately 5.4 million people have returned to Afghanistan, a pace and scale described by the agency’s representative in Afghanistan as “unprecedented.”

In a press briefing held virtually from Kabul during a session in Geneva, UNHCR representative Arif Jamal said, “This is a massive number, and the speed and scale of these returns have brought Afghanistan almost to the brink of crisis.”

According to the report, 2.9 million returnees came last year, marking what Jamal described as the largest return to a single country in recent years. Since the start of this year, around 150,000 more have returned.

The wave of returns began after Pakistan launched a widespread deportation campaign in October 2023, urging undocumented migrants to leave voluntarily or face detention and forced removal. Thousands more have also come back from Iran.

Afghanistan was already grappling with severe humanitarian needs, a weakened economy, prolonged drought, and the impacts of two devastating earthquakes when the return tide intensified.

UN officials said that the influx of people—equivalent to about 12% of the country’s population—has placed extraordinary pressure on already limited infrastructure and resources.

Afghan authorities have been providing support packages to returnees, including food, cash assistance, mobile phone SIM cards, and travel costs to return to family areas. However, these measures fall far short of meeting the overwhelming needs.

Without sufficient financial and humanitarian support, Afghanistan’s humanitarian situation could deteriorate further, warned UN.