UNHCR: At least 1.2 million Afghans forced to return to the country

(Patria) - At least 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return to the country from Iran and Pakistan this year, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said yesterday.

UNHCR assessed that the mass repatriations have the potential to destabilise the "fragile" situation in Afghanistan.

Iran and Pakistan launched separate campaigns in 2023 to expel foreigners they said were living illegally in those countries, the AP reported.

The two countries set deadlines and threatened these foreigners with deportation if they did not leave their territory.

The governments of Iran and Pakistan denied that these measures targeted Afghans who had fled war, poverty and Taliban rule in their homeland.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that of the 1.2 million Afghans who have returned to their country, more than half came from Iran after March 20, the deadline set by that country's government for their voluntary departure.

Iran has deported more than 366,000 Afghans this year, and the 12-day Iran-Israel war also contributed to the increase in departures.

UNHCR representative in Kabul, Arafat Jamal, said that Afghan families are returning to the country exhausted, hungry and afraid of what awaits them.

Iranian authorities stated in April that of the more than six million Afghans in that country, 2.5 million are living there illegally.

Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund earlier this month said that all Afghans who fled the country can freely return, promising them they will be safe.

Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities have set June 30 as the deadline for about 1.3 million Afghans to leave that country, the AP recalls.

Pakistan plans to expel a total of three million Afghans this year, the US agency reported.