TEHRAN – Following the deportation of unauthorized Afghans, with the implementation of a return deadline by the Government on March 20, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has warned that returns on a massive scale have the potential to destabilize the fragile situation in Afghanistan.

Since March 20, over 640,000 Afghans have returned from Iran, with over 366,000 others deported, including refugees and people in refugee-like situations.

The sharpest rise was on June 26, when some 36,100 Afghans returned in just one day. The number of daily returns has continued to increase since June 13, the UNHCR website announced in a press release on June 28.

UNHCR Representative in Kabul, Arafat Jamal, has said that Afghans are returning home, but they are “scared about what awaits them in a country many of them have never even set foot in. Women and girls are particularly worried, as they fear the restrictions on freedom of movement and basic rights such as education and employment.”

In total, over 1.2 million Afghans have returned or been forced to return from Iran and Pakistan in 2025, worsening the already desperate situation inside Afghanistan. The UN estimates that over half the population in Afghanistan relies on humanitarian assistance.

UNHCR has been warning that dwindling international support is deepening the complex, overlapping crises in Afghanistan.

“We need to act fast. We urgently call on the international community to help us respond, not just with emergency aid, but with longer-term support. Funding for sustainable reintegration is essential to prevent cycles of instability and displacement,” UNHCR’s Jamal added.

UNHCR is responding in close coordination with sister UN agencies and partners to receive and assist returnees, delivering immediate and longer-term support to help people and communities.

UNHCR joins its partners in calling for immediate and substantial funding to ensure sustainable reintegration and prevent cyclical displacement inside the country and beyond its borders. UNHCR’s response to the Afghanistan situation this year is so far only 23 per cent funded.

MT/MG