UN, Afghan officials tackle repatriation pressures

Afghan officials have agreed to expanded cooperation with the United Nations regarding housing and jobs for returning Afghan citizens. 

They held meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday with members of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kabul.

“The United Nations will spare no effort in providing support to refugees and assisting in their reintegration,” the UNHCR representative Barham Salih said.

Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs Abdul Salam Hanafi said decades of conflict created heavy financial and human losses and that refugees had been forced out of neighbouring countries.

Large scale of returnees

However, according to an official statement, Hanafi said that since the establishment in 2021 of the Islamic Emirate – an alternative name for the Taliban -- more than eight million refugees have returned to the country.

A 2025 report by the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said returns from Pakistan accelerated after authorities there set a deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave or be deported. It coincided with a separate wave of Afghan citizens returning from Iran.

In a second meeting on Wednesday, Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdul Ghani Baradar met Salih and said assistance should move towards development projects.

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The office said Baradar wanted returning refugees and internally displaced Afghans to benefit from services including housing, schools and electricity.

The mass influx of Afghans returning home has been adding significant pressure on housing, jobs, access to clean water and other basic services. According to the UNHCR and IOM, more than 890,000 people returned to Afghanistan during the first half of this year.

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Afghanistan United Nations repatriation