Afghanistan Records 2.9 Million Returns as UN Warns of Forced Moves and Deepening Need

Millions return to a country struggling to receive them

An estimated 2.9 million Afghans returned or were deported to Afghanistan in 2025, most in adverse circumstances, according to UNHCR. The movement brought families into a country facing economic decline, fragile public services, restrictions on women and girls, and earthquakes that added to demands for shelter and emergency assistance.

UNHCR's Afghanistan situation overview records the scale of that pressure: the agency sought $478 million for Afghanistan and neighbouring countries in 2025 but received $174 million, leaving a $304 million gap. At the end of the year, 3.2 million people remained displaced inside Afghanistan.

The surge formed part of a wider rise in returns worldwide. UNHCR's Global Trends Report recorded 14.7 million displaced people going back to their countries or home areas in 2025. Yet Afghanistan remained among the six countries from which more than 70 percent of refugees originated, alongside South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Venezuela.

For many Afghan families, crossing the border meant leaving places where they had spent years or decades. Some children and adults arriving in Afghanistan had been born in Iran or Pakistan. They faced the immediate task of finding shelter, income, healthcare and a place in communities already struggling to meet their own needs.

What the return figures count

UNHCR's Afghan returns recap, published on 24 February 2026, estimates 2.9 million returns during 2025. It identifies changes in government policy, tighter documentation requirements, misinformation and disinformation, and worsening economic and protection conditions in neighbouring countries as key drivers.

The situation overview separately records 1.9 million refugee returns. The broader figure of 2.9 million covers people who returned or were deported across different legal and documentation categories. Refugees are people who need protection outside their country; internally displaced people have fled their homes but remain within their own borders.

UNHCR's year end figures also list 2 million Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, 8,000 returns by people displaced internally, and about 1 million other people needing international protection. These categories describe different experiences: applying for asylum, living abroad with protection needs, remaining displaced within Afghanistan, or returning after exile.

More than 1.6 million Afghans had already returned from Iran and Pakistan in 2024, according to UNHCR. The much larger movement recorded in 2025 followed that substantial earlier influx, giving receiving communities little time to recover between successive arrivals.

How policy changes accelerated departures

Iran introduced a return and regularization scheme in March 2025 affecting more than 2 million Afghans who had previously held temporary documentation. Regularization means obtaining official permission to stay. Changes to those rules can leave families needing new documents or facing departure.

Pakistan announced in April that holders of Proof of Registration cards, alongside Afghan Citizen Card holders, would be required to return to Afghanistan. Its broader deportation campaign followed the adoption of the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan in 2023.

The main developments unfolded over several months:

• March 2025: Iran introduced its return and regularization scheme affecting more than 2 million Afghans.
• April 2025: Pakistan announced return requirements covering Proof of Registration and Afghan Citizen Card holders.
• 18 July 2025: The UN Human Rights Office said more than 1.9 million Afghans had returned from Iran and Pakistan in just over seven months.
• August and November 2025: Earthquakes added emergency needs inside Afghanistan.
• 24 February 2026: UNHCR published its recap estimating 2.9 million Afghan returns during 2025.

The UN Human Rights Office's July returns briefing said more than 1.5 million people had arrived from Iran since the start of 2025. Of those, 938,000, about 60 percent, had been deported, including 500,000 since 13 June. More than 300,000 had returned from Pakistan since 1 January.

Why voluntary return matters

Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called in July for an immediate halt to the forcible return of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, particularly people facing persecution, arbitrary detention or torture. His office said some people were directly forced out, while others left because of threats, harassment and intimidation.

The UN Human Rights Office stated the standard governments should apply:

Countries in the region must ensure that returns to Afghanistan are voluntary, safe, dignified, and consistent with international law.

International law includes the principle of non-refoulement: a country must not send someone to a place where they face persecution, torture or other irreparable harm. People must also have a fair opportunity to present such a claim before authorities forcibly expel them.

Tajikistan was another point of concern. Between October 2024 and July 2025, at least 485 Afghan nationals were deported, including 334 refugees or asylum seekers. Afghan nationals in Vahdat were reportedly summoned by security officials on 8 July and told that all Afghans must leave within 15 days.

Women and girls face particularly severe restrictions after return. The human rights office also identified journalists, former civil servants and employees of the previous Afghan government as vulnerable to reprisals and torture by the de facto authorities. Access to food and shelter must therefore be accompanied by attention to each person's safety.

A home many returnees barely know

Islam Qala, a major crossing on the Iranian border, was receiving around 50,000 arrivals a day during the July surge described by UNHCR. Exhausted families reached crowded reception facilities in heat that often reached 40 degrees Celsius.

Arafat Jamal, UNHCR's representative in Afghanistan, described the journeys in the UN's July humanitarian account:

Many of these returnees have been abruptly uprooted and have undergone arduous, exhausting and degrading journeys – they arrive tired, disoriented, brutalised and often in despair, and they sprawl throughout a crowded centre in often 40°C (104°F) heat,

Jamal said many returnees had been born abroad, with different educational experiences and cultural expectations. For women and girls, moving to Afghanistan could mean losing freedoms they had exercised in the country where they grew up.

Afghan communities were receiving people while facing severe poverty themselves. UNDP reported that 70 percent of Afghans lived at subsistence levels, meaning their resources barely covered basic survival. FAO also warned of worsening drought across much of the country.

Jamal described the pressure on receiving communities:

Afghanistan may be welcoming, but it is wholly unprepared to receive this volume of returnees,

Restrictions on Afghan women working for the United Nations further disrupted assistance during 2025. The same response had to address new arrivals, people already displaced, and residents whose livelihoods and access to services were under strain.

What assistance reached families

UNHCR reached about 1.9 million Afghans through protection and reintegration support in priority areas during 2025. Reintegration means helping people establish a workable life after return, including access to services, income and support within their communities.

The agency provided protection assistance to 692,300 returnees and financial aid to nearly 500,000 people upon arrival. More than 220,000 received basic relief items, while about 31,000 received transport assistance to reach their intended destinations.

UNHCR also conducted more than 100,000 border monitoring interviews to identify protection risks and guide its response. Through a partnership with financial technology platform HesabPay, more than 120,000 households received assistance through digital wallets, giving families with limited access to banks another way to obtain funds.

Earthquakes in August and November created additional demands. UNHCR provided financial assistance to more than 8,500 families, distributed over 5,600 family tents and delivered mental health and psychosocial support to 5,100 people affected by loss, displacement and trauma.

Funding fell far short of the response

UNHCR received 36 percent of the $478 million it required for its Afghanistan and neighbouring countries response in 2025. The $304 million shortfall meant almost two thirds of the requested funding was missing as the year ended.

Emergency budgets were already stretched during the July border surge, when UNHCR's response was 28 percent funded. The wider Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan sought $2.4 billion to assist nearly 17 million people and was only 22 percent funded at that point.

Jamal described how the shortage affected daily decisions:

We are living on borrowed funds,

The regional situation overview records $179 million in expenditure: $108 million in Afghanistan, $44 million in Pakistan, $25 million in Iran and $2 million through the Kazakhstan office covering several countries. UNHCR said flexible funding helped it respond quickly after the August earthquake by paying for shelter, relief items and protection assistance.

The UN General Assembly also called for renewed international cooperation and support for Afghan civilians in a resolution adopted in July with 116 votes in favour and two against. It urged the Taliban to reverse repressive policies and called on donors to maintain or increase assistance.

Support in Iran and Pakistan still matters

Iran and Pakistan continued to host large Afghan populations while returns accelerated. UNHCR's work in both countries shows the practical services people need during exile: schooling, healthcare, opportunities to earn money and reliable information about their rights.

In Iran, UNHCR supported health insurance for 95,000 vulnerable refugees, including people with chronic conditions. More than 1,000 refugees, mostly women, received vocational training in skills such as tailoring, digital literacy and agriculture. A helpline handled more than 58,000 enquiries.

In Pakistan, the agency supported around 140 refugee schools providing primary education to more than 49,000 children. About 92,000 learners were enrolled in the national education system, and around 260 students pursued tertiary education. Solar energy systems were installed in 54 public facilities and 6,505 households.

UNHCR reported that more than 3,400 Afghan refugees departed through resettlement and other pathways in 2025, while nearly 2,000 others accessed complementary pathways. Such routes can include opportunities based on education, work or family connections. The annual overview gives no timetable for expanding those options.

A global decline with persistent displacement

Worldwide refugee numbers fell 3 percent to 41.6 million in 2025, according to UNHCR's Global Trends Report. During the same year, 5.4 million people fled to other countries to escape violence and persecution.

The 14.7 million returns comprised 4.4 million refugees crossing back into their countries and 10.3 million internally displaced people returning within national borders. Refugee returns were the second highest recorded in 60 years, with sharp increases in Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria. Many took place under pressure and in precarious conditions.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Barham Salih said 70 percent of refugees remained in prolonged exile, with many living below the poverty line. He described the human cost:

For too many refugees, displacement starts as a lifeline but lasts a lifetime,

Salih proposed reducing by more than half, over the next decade, the number of refugees in prolonged displacement who depend on humanitarian assistance. His approach includes voluntary return, humanitarian visas, relocation and access to education, healthcare, financial services and employment, particularly in countries with low and middle incomes.

Other routes to security narrowed during 2025. Arrivals through resettlement or sponsorship fell by more than half to 81,800 worldwide. Nearly 46,000 stateless people acquired citizenship across 24 countries, giving them a legal nationality. Colombia, Germany and Türkiye were the largest refugee hosting countries.

For Afghanistan, the immediate task is concrete: people arriving at the border need safety and basic assistance, while those already living in receiving communities need functioning services and livelihoods. Voluntary decisions about return depend on families having realistic options both in exile and at home.

Key Points

• UNHCR estimates that 2.9 million Afghans returned or were deported in 2025, most in adverse circumstances.
• Policy changes and tighter documentation requirements in Iran and Pakistan helped drive departures.
• Afghanistan ended 2025 with 3.2 million people still displaced within its borders.
• UNHCR provided protection assistance to 692,300 returnees but received only 36 percent of its requested regional funding.
• UN human rights officials called for a halt to forcible returns and fair consideration of individual protection claims.
• Worldwide, 14.7 million displaced people returned in 2025, while resettlement and sponsorship arrivals fell to 81,800.