Forced return of Afghans from Pakistan and Iran creates humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan

Zarina, an Afghan who returned to the country, says she fears for the future of girls, prevented from attending high school and university in Afghanistan under the Taliban government — Photo: BBC

"It's good to be in my own country," says Nazia, 35, just minutes after crossing the border from Pakistan, where she was born, into Afghanistan.

The Torkham crossing, known as "Ground Zero", marks the end of a difficult life in Pakistan and the beginning of another in Afghanistan.

"But I've never been to Afghanistan, and many people here don't even have enough bread to eat", laments Nazia as she heads, accompanied by two of her children, towards the registration counters decorated with black and white Taliban flags.

Almost his entire family, eight sisters and their children, were deported this year from Pakistan or Iran to Afghanistan.

They are part of the largest movement of people across borders currently recorded in the world.

For decades, millions of Afghans have crossed borders into Pakistan and Iran in search of refuge or work. The number of people leaving Afghanistan has continued to grow since the Taleban regained power in August 2021.

Now, most are being forced to return after the two neighboring countries tightened measures against undocumented immigrants. Nazia and her family did not have documents, but the UN and human rights organizations say that the operations also affect Afghans with official registration. Pakistan itself has publicly stated that not even Afghans who have registration cards are exempt.

And there are no signs that the expulsions are nearing an end.

The Torkham Pass is known as "Point Zero" — Photo: AFP via BBC

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of people forced to return this year from Pakistan and Iran has already reached more than 1 million.

"In just under three years, we have seen 6 million people, a population equivalent to that of a small country, return to Afghanistan," says Charlie Goodlake, UNHCR spokesman in the country.

"In recent history, we have never seen a return movement of this magnitude," says Goodlake, in the intense heat at the camp near the border.

The landscape is desolate, covered in tarpaulin and plastic shelters, many of them already torn and deteriorated. The structures were set up by the United Nations (UN) and other humanitarian organizations to welcome people who arrive with nowhere to go for a few nights.

Many of those returning had not set foot in Afghanistan for decades. Others, like Nazia, had never been to the country.

"I left 45 years ago, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and most of my siblings were born in Pakistan," says Sarwar, who had arrived a few days earlier with seven siblings and their families. The group of 40 people brought their belongings crammed into a Pakistani truck.

“We spent a lot of time there, so of course I was devastated when they forced us to leave our home,” says Sarwar.

"But despite all this pain, I am also happy because I am finally free from harassment by the Pakistani police."

Afghans deported from Pakistan arrive at the Torkham crossing — Photo: AFP via Getty Images (BBC)

All the families interviewed by the report said they had suffered prejudice and harassment from the Pakistani authorities.

The Pakistani government did not respond to questions from the BBC, but a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in an interview with several journalists in Islamabad on Sunday that "the government of Pakistan takes necessary measures to prevent any episodes of harassment or ill-treatment of Afghan citizens in the country. If such episodes did occur, they were isolated cases and are dealt with in accordance with the law."

Both Pakistan and Iran say the Afghans should have returned to their country by now. Governments accuse some of them of posing a threat to security and others of generating costs for the countries that host them.

Expulsions from Pakistan and reports of abuse intensified after a sharp escalation in fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan in October last year. In February, the international NGO Human Rights Watch reported "door-to-door operations, dawn searches of homes and warrantless arrests."

In Iran, which said last year it was home to more than 4 million undocumented Afghans, mass deportations gained momentum after the country's 12-day war against Israel and the United States in June 2025.

The New York, US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran accused authorities of taking advantage of the post-war climate to "cast suspicion on Afghan immigrants, accusing them of espionage and treating them as possible spies for Israel."

Precarious situation

UNHCR continues to uphold the humanitarian principle that any return must be "voluntary, safe and dignified".

But in Torkham, Sarwar's sister-in-law Zarina laments the precarious situation she finds herself in: "we don't have the resources to open a business or make a living, we don't even have a tent to live in."

Inside the makeshift tent to welcome the new arrivals, which offers little relief from the 41°C heat, Zarina sits alongside a group of apprehensive women and children.

Do they fear the future of women and girls in a country where the Taleban have excluded them from much of public life, including high school and universities?

Zarina, 40, makes a sweeping gesture with her arm: "Look at them, they're all girls. Of course I'm worried."

Some of the people returning are not just worried. They are terrified.

"I'm not leaving this house," says, nervously, a former Afghan security guard who was first deported from Iran and then from Pakistan. The report found him far from the border, in a house where he hopes to be protected.

"We all live in fear, including my wife and children, who are also afraid to go out."

He does not trust the amnesty announced by the Taliban government just days after returning to power. At the time, the group stated that former members of the government, members of the security forces and public servants would not suffer reprisals and could return to work.

"I don't trust this amnesty because many of my colleagues were killed." According to him, his case had been registered with the UN, but he ended up deported before he could be transferred to a safer country.

Financial difficulties further aggravate the situation. The sharp cuts in international aid have an especially serious impact on Afghanistan, where the Taliban remain subject to sanctions related to terrorism and human rights.

Pakistan confirmed on Sunday that 16,000 Afghans in vulnerable situations received, for humanitarian reasons, a temporary exemption from deportation — a decision that was welcomed by the UN.

But sources estimate that up to 250,000 Afghans in Pakistan are still at risk of serious harm. Among them are women and girls who, if they returned, would not have access to education.

Zarina, 40, is among the 1 million Afghans who returned to the country this year alone — Photo: BBC

At the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul, the Taleban's Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, tries to demonstrate confidence.

"There's no doubt we need some help," admits Muttaqi. "The return of these people puts pressure on the country, but in the long run it will be beneficial for both them and Afghanistan."

In the first years after the Taleban regained power in 2021, some of the group's ministers minimized humanitarian problems, saying that God would provide.

The UN now estimates that 21.9 million people, almost half of Afghanistan's population, will need aid this year to survive. Last week, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) stated that 1 million children were facing malnutrition that "threatens their lives".

"No country in the world would be able to face a crisis of this type alone", assesses Goodlake, from UNHCR, who also recognizes the efforts of the Taliban government to assist people returning to the country.

But he adds: "We also know that many of the restrictions and mandates they have imposed, particularly against women and girls, make it difficult to obtain international support."

The Taleban's Muttaqi repeats the government's position that issues such as girls' education are "internal matters" that should be resolved by Afghans themselves.

The severe restrictions imposed on the lives of girls and women are one of the main obstacles in the Taliban's international relations and have had consequences for the group. Five years after his return to power, only one country, Russia, formally recognized the government.

Asked about this, Muttaqi highlights the deepening of diplomatic and economic relations with neighboring countries, such as China and India, in addition to Central Asian countries.

Regarding Kabul's relative isolation from Western countries, he asks: "Those who have not maintained relations with us in the last five years, what have they achieved?"

The report heard that same word — "nothing" — from all the families it met at Ponto Zero, but in a very different sense.

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