More than 600,000 Afghan migrants have returned from Iran and Pakistan so far this year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Afintl.af reports.
The UN agency said on Sunday that nearly 435,000 Afghans returned from Iran during the first four months of 2025. Of those, 252,400 were forcibly deported.
In the same period, more than 196,000 Afghan migrants returned from Pakistan. According to UNHCR, 33,000 of these were deported, while the rest returned under growing pressure.
The agency also reported that over the past 21 months, approximately 998,500 Afghan migrants have returned from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Among these, only about 131,000 people have received UN assistance. Of those who received support, 50 percent were women and 2.4 percent were persons with disabilities.
Nearly 870,000 returnees from Pakistan have yet to receive any form of aid from the UN.
Many of these migrants were forced to abandon businesses and livelihoods in Pakistan due to increasing government pressure, returning to an Afghanistan some had not seen in decades — often empty-handed and with little support.
Among those assisted this year, 72 percent said they were planning to settle in five provinces: Laghman, Nangarhar, Kunduz, Kabul and Kandahar.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
June 2, 2025