The United Nations has expressed concern in its latest report that by the end of this year, about 3 million more Afghan citizens may have to return to their homeland, more than half of whom will be women and children.
According to the report, these returns are expected to be largely from Pakistan and Iran.
According to UN data, about 5.9 million Afghan refugees have returned to Afghanistan since September 2023, which constitutes 10 to 12 percent of the country’s total population.
The report said that the majority of those who returned were sent back from Pakistan and Iran or returned home under pressure.
According to the report, about 600,000 Afghan citizens returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan and Iran during the first four months of 2026.
The United Nations has predicted that another 1.7 million Afghan citizens are expected to return from Iran and about 1.1 million from Pakistan in the next eight months.
The report also expressed concern that a large number of returnees are Afghans who were born, raised and spent most of their lives in Pakistan or Iran. For many families, returning to Afghanistan has become a precarious situation as they may face difficulties in accessing basic services such as employment, housing, education and health.
The United Nations has warned that the return of such a large number of Afghan citizens could add further pressure to Afghanistan’s already fragile economic and humanitarian crisis. The organization has called on the international community to increase humanitarian assistance and financial support to both Afghanistan and the countries hosting the refugees to cope with the potential crisis.
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