Tehran – IRAF – Arafat Jamal, UNHCR Representative, said at a press conference in Geneva that of this total, 2.9 million people returned in 2025, and around 150,000 have returned so far this year.
The representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stated that these migrants have returned to Afghanistan under extremely difficult conditions, and that the scale and speed of their return have further deepened the country’s crisis.
He added that, according to a survey, around half of the returnees have been unable to find employment, more than half of the returning families lack official identification documents, and over 90 percent are living on less than five dollars a day.
Arafat Jamal also stated that five percent of the survey participants said they intend to leave Afghanistan again, while another 10 percent reported that one of their relatives or community members had left the country again after returning.
He said, “These decisions are not driven by a desire to migrate, but by the reality that many are unable to rebuild a stable and dignified life.”
The UNHCR representative added that the asylum space in the region is shrinking and legal migration pathways are decreasing; however, Afghan citizens increasingly feel compelled to undertake further dangerous journeys.
He expressed concern over the large-scale return of migrants to Afghanistan and said that UNHCR, together with its partners, will focus on supporting their integration into local communities.
Arafat Jamal stated that UNHCR requires $216 million this year to support returnees and internally displaced persons in Afghanistan, but currently only eight percent of that funding has been secured.
He called for urgent action to support returnees to Afghanistan, adding that there is still an opportunity to find long-term solutions and to end the displacement of returnees in their homeland.
