More than 617,000 Afghans returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan during the first six months of the current Afghan solar year, as the pace of returns continues to rise, according to Taliban officials and international organizations.
As reported by IRAF, Hamidullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban government, said on Tuesday, Sept. 15, that more than 617,000 people had entered Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan during the first half of the current solar year.
Fitrat said more than 437,000 had returned from Pakistan and nearly 180,000 from Iran.
The figures come as reports by international organizations point to a sharp increase in the expulsion and voluntary return of Afghan migrants from the two neighboring countries.
According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 85,000 people returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan over the past two weeks alone, bringing the total number of returnees since the beginning of the year to more than 1.276 million.
The United Nations has also estimated that nearly 5.9 million Afghans have returned to the country since September 2023. The UN has warned that the scale of returns is placing significant pressure on Afghanistan’s limited resources, public services and economic capacity.
UN projections indicate that around 2.8 million more Afghans could return from Iran and Pakistan by the end of 2026.
International reports have highlighted that a significant share of those returning are women and children, many of whom were born outside Afghanistan and have weak ties to their areas of origin.
A lack of shelter, limited employment opportunities, pressure on health and education services, and the risk of secondary displacement are among the main challenges facing the returnee population.
Meanwhile, international aid agencies and the United Nations have launched programmes to assist returnees, including cash assistance, healthcare, transportation, registration and other initial support at border crossings with Iran and Pakistan.
