Nearly 6 Million Afghans Pushed Across Borders as Pakistan and Iran Double Down on Deportations

Pakistan and Iran have intensified deportation campaigns against Afghans, contributing to more than six million returns to Afghanistan since late 2023, according to UNHCR and IOM data. The scale of the movement is among the largest influxes of Afghans in decades, with both countries increasing pressure on Afghan migrants to leave.

The influx has placed additional pressure on local resources, leaving returnees to navigate extreme poverty, scarce jobs and a restrictive domestic landscape shaped by Taliban rule.

Why Deportations From Pakistan and Iran Have Intensified

Both governments have cited security concerns, immigration enforcement and pressure on public resources among the reasons for their policies towards Afghan migrants. Recent policy changes in both countries have increased pressure on Afghans without valid documentation to leave.

UN data shows the scale of the returns. Pakistan was returning roughly 2,500 people daily in January 2026 under its Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan, while Iran accelerated deportations of undocumented Afghans, according to a UN Afghanistan returnees overview published in February.

The same UN overview said Iran was facing a 60 per cent reduction in international funding for refugees and cited an estimated annual hosting cost of around $10 billion, a figure attributed to Iranian officials rather than an independently verified calculation.

Families Arrive at Torkham With Virtually Nothing

The Torkham border crossing has become a focal point of the crisis. Families arrive with livestock, household items or small bags of clothes, while others reach processing centres with virtually nothing.

Charlie Goodlake, a UNHCR representative in Afghanistan, said the number of people returning represents a population comparable to that of a small country. Reception facilities have faced summer temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, alongside shortages of clean water, shelter and medical care.

UNHCR briefing notes reinforce the funding gap behind those shortages. The agency said in February that it needed $216 million to support displaced people and returnees in 2026, but its response was then only eight per cent funded.

By August 2026, UNHCR and IOM data showed that more than 1.08 million people had returned to Afghanistan during 2026 alone, including about 654,100 from Pakistan and 426,700 from Iran. The figures include voluntary returns and deportations, and should not be treated as representing deportations alone.

A Homecoming to a Country Many Have Never Known

For thousands of families, the return is not a homecoming in any traditional sense. Some returnees were born, raised and educated entirely outside Afghanistan's borders.

'I was born and raised in Pakistan, and almost my entire extended family has also been deported,' Nazia, a 35-year-old returnee, told Minute Mirror. Her experience illustrates the situation faced by some returnees who have spent most or all of their lives outside Afghanistan.

Taliban Says Returnees Could Boost Economy as Women Face Restrictions

Afghanistan's de facto Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, has acknowledged the population surge but maintains that the arrival of returnees could eventually benefit the country's workforce if accompanied by economic development. He said local authorities were working to accommodate incoming families.

That position sits alongside continuing Taliban restrictions on women and girls.

Women and girls face education, employment and public life restrictions, compounding hardships for returning families.

The UN estimates that 21.9 million people in Afghanistan require humanitarian assistance in 2026.

Humanitarian agencies say the large-scale return of Afghans is adding pressure to an already severe humanitarian situation, alongside food insecurity, drought and other challenges.

With international funding falling far short of what agencies say is needed, aid organisations have warned that the continuing influx could further destabilise Afghanistan's fragile humanitarian and economic systems, with consequences that will not stop at its borders.