Amid the ongoing humanitarian and human rights crisis in Afghanistan, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are urgently calling for international support as the country faces one of the largest return movements in recent history. According to the latest UN figures, more than 2.2 million Afghans returned or were forced to return from Iran and Pakistan in 2025 alone. Over 1.8 million came from Iran and nearly 400,000 arrived from Pakistan.
With millions of Afghans forced to return from neighboring countries and the global humanitarian funding crisis taking a heavy toll on the country, the prospect of an even deeper humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is looming large.
Returns from Pakistan started to surge in April of this year, when Pakistani authorities set a deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave the country or face deportation. At around the same time, an even larger wave of returns from Iran began. Most of these Afghans were forcibly deported.
Since April, approximately 1.5 million Afghans have returned or been forced to return from Iran, and over 300,000 from Pakistan. An additional 1 million Afghans are expected to return from Pakistan due to the Pakistani government's decision not to extend the stay of Afghan nationals.
Last week, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) expressed concern over Pakistan’s intention to deport Afghan refugees holding Proof of Registration cards. On July 31, Pakistan confirmed that Afghan refugees would be repatriated under its ongoing "Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan."
UNHCR has received reports of the arrest and detention of Afghans, including cardholders, across the country.
The UN agency expressed particular concern for women and girls who are forced to return to Afghanistan, where their human rights are at risk. The agency also expressed concern for other groups who might be in danger if forced to return.
Afghanistan is facing a worsening humanitarian crisis fueled by a deteriorating human rights situation that particularly affects women and girls. The crisis is also characterized by displacement, with 6.3 million Afghans internally displaced; prolonged economic hardship; recurring natural disasters related to the climate crisis; and limited access to life-saving assistance.
The large-scale return of over 2.2 million Afghans from Iran and Pakistan this year has further exacerbated the situation.
In a statement on Monday, the NGO Save the Children said that most children crossing into Afghanistan, including thousands without parents or guardians, are bringing only what they can carry. Many are strangers in their homeland, either having been born in neighboring countries or having spent years as refugees or migrants.
“The scale and pace of people returning to Afghanistan right now is completely unprecedented. We are on the brink of a full-scale humanitarian crisis like we’ve never seen before,” said Samira Sayed Rahman, Advocacy Director at Save the Children in Afghanistan.
“Many of these children are exhausted, terrified, and unsure how they will survive in a country already grappling with severe hunger and poverty over the past four years. Thousands of children are returning alone, without family or access to basic services.”
Huge groups of families are living in parks and open spaces in major cities in Afghanistan, according to the humanitarian organization.
One of the world's largest and most overlooked humanitarian crises
Even before the influx of people returning to Afghanistan, nearly half of the population — 22.9 million people, including 12.3 million children — required humanitarian assistance. Millions of Afghans continue to struggle to survive amid one of the world's largest and most overlooked humanitarian crises.
Afghanistan is among the top ten countries worldwide impacted by climate change. Droughts, floods, increased temperatures, and extreme heat affect people living in rural areas, reducing their livelihoods, and threaten people living in urban areas as well. A severe drought in Afghanistan’s northern provinces has led to shrinking water supplies and withering crops.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Afghanistan is facing a severe, drought-related crisis that is disrupting agricultural and pastoral livelihoods across half of the country's provinces. The north, northwestern, and northeastern regions are among the hardest hit, with worsening conditions now spreading.
While the impacts of this drought emergency intensify, humanitarian organizations are working to address the urgent needs of hundreds of thousands of returnees arriving in search of safety, dignity, and economic opportunity.
However, due to the increasing strain on resources caused by aid cuts this year, Afghanistan is facing heightened challenges in providing essential services, especially to vulnerable populations such as returnees, host communities, and children.
“The fallout from massive aid cuts this year has left humanitarian teams overwhelmed by the sheer volume of need. The crisis is severely under resourced, underfunded, and overlooked. And it is children who will be paying the heaviest price,” said Rahman of Save the Children.
In response to growing needs at the borders and in areas of return, aid agencies, including the International Organization for Migration (IOM), are seeking additional funding to ramp up their operations. Without urgent support, the current systems face a severe risk of collapse, which would put millions at risk.
Aid agencies are also urging countries in the region to ensure that returns to Afghanistan are voluntary, safe, and dignified. Save the Children stated that forcing or pressuring children, especially unaccompanied children, to return can increase their risk of exploitation, abuse, and neglect.
Women’s human rights under attack
A recent report by an interagency working group on humanitarian action, co-chaired by UN Women and CARE International, reveals that women and girls comprise one-third of those who have returned from Iran thus far in 2025 and approximately half of those who have returned from Pakistan.
The report warns that, like all women and girls in Afghanistan, returnee women and girls face increased risks of poverty, early marriage, violence, exploitation, and restrictions on their rights, movements, and freedoms.
Since the Taliban regained power in August 2021, Afghanistan has been in the midst of a major human rights crisis. The de facto authorities have targeted women's and girls' rights by excluding them from public and political life, economic activity, and education, further exacerbating the female population's humanitarian situation.
The latest UN update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, released Sunday, states that the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has received reports of the de facto authorities impeding women’s right to work despite publicly affirming that Islam permits women to work and be entrepreneurs.
The report, which covers the period from April to June of 2025, states that the Taliban continue to prevent women and girls from accessing education beyond sixth grade.
According to the update, in May, dozens of female UN national staff were threatened with death by unidentified individuals in relation to their work with the UN Mission and other UN agencies, funds, and programs.
UNAMA also noted that the de facto authorities' monitoring of women's adherence to hijab instructions appears to have intensified in some parts of the country.
According to the report, there have been recorded incidents of gender-based violence against women and girls, including cases in which de facto officials were accused of both perpetrating and enforcing forced marriages.
In July, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's supreme leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the Taliban's chief justice. They are accused of crimes against humanity for the widespread persecution of the country's female population.
The Pre-Trial Chamber judges found reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Haqqani committed the crime of persecution against girls, women, and individuals who do not conform to the Taliban's gender policies, as well as individuals perceived as "allies of girls and women."