More than 3 million Afghans have returned to their homeland over the last two years, as host countries near and far have turned increasingly unreceptive towards a vulnerable population that in some cases has been displaced for more than a decade. Afghans comprise one of the largest groups of refugees worldwide. Generations of people have fled Afghanistan amid a decades-long series of wars and other crises, with the largest numbers heading to neighboring Iran and Pakistan. The number of displaced Afghans ticked up most recently in 2021, when the Taliban returned to power amid the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Since then, host-country policies towards Afghans have been notably restrictive. Iran, which has faced economic strains and security concerns, deported more than 2.2 million Afghans last year. As Mitra Naseh recently explained in the Migration Information Source, the hardening posture has been accompanied by rising anti-Afghan public sentiment. Approximately 1 million Afghans have also returned from Pakistan since September 2023, when Islamabad began a phased process of deporting Afghans without legal status. Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have grown over Kabul’s support for the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has attacked Pakistani troops. Some of those told to repatriate were hoping to be resettled as refugees in the United States, before the Trump administration halted the program upon taking office. In line with its pause of the refugee resettlement process, the United States is also ending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Afghans in mid-July, leaving nearly 12,000 vulnerable to deportation. Explaining the decision, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described Afghanistan’s security situation as “improved” and its economy as “stabilizing.” Germany began resuming deportations to Afghanistan last year, for the first time since the Taliban’s return to power. And Germany may be considering reneging on an offer to accept Afghans waiting in Pakistan for resettlement. Conditions in Afghanistan remain grim. Afghans coming back “return to a homeland that is dramatically unprepared to receive them,” the country’s UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative, Arafat Jamal, described recently. With the country under Taliban control, many Afghans face severe poverty as well as limited rights for women and girls, ethnic minorities, and others. Meanwhile, as discussed on a recent episode of MPI’s “Changing Climate, Changing Migration” podcast, Afghanistan is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In part because of international aid cuts, the humanitarian effort for Afghanistan is facing a massive funding gap. In May, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) significantly narrowed its scope in terms of helping the nearly 23 million Afghans in need. Whereas returning families once received as much as $2,000 to help them rebuild, that assistance has shrunk to just $150. The recent history of Afghanistan is, sadly, one of repeated crisis and conflict. With millions pushed to return, it seems unlikely that the near future holds a brighter outcome. All the best, Julian Hattem
Editor, Migration Information Source
source@migrationpolicy.org | 
