UNHCR: Mass returns from Iran and Pakistan are overwhelming Afghanistan; aid operation 28% funded

UNHCR representative Arafat Jamal, briefing virtually from Kabul, told a United Nations press briefing that more than 1,600,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan so far this year, including roughly 1,300,000 from Iran, and that the pace and manner of some returns are creating “enormous pressures” on the country.

Jamal said border crossings have included sudden, large movements—peaks “of over 40,000 people a day” at the Iran–Afghanistan border and a single-day spike of about 50,000 on July 4—and that many returnees arrive exhausted, dehydrated and “often in despair.” He described scenarios in which people born abroad or with different socioeconomic backgrounds are returning to a country that is “utterly unprepared to receive them.”

The UNHCR official said the agency’s Afghanistan operation is only 28% funded and is diverting resources from elsewhere to meet immediate needs. “Daily, I’m in conversations with my colleagues to say, should we give one blanket instead of four to a family? Should we give one meal instead of three? These are heartbreaking and soul-destroying conversations,” Jamal said.

Why it matters: the rapidly rising numbers and constrained budgets mean UN agencies are reducing planned support such as small-business…