Nearly 60,000 Afghans return from Pakistan

Published: 9:53 PM, Apr 15, 2025

Afghan refugee children board a truck loaded with their belongings as they wait for their deportation to Afghanistan, at a holding centre near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Chaman on April 15, 2025. According to the UN refugee agency, more than 24,665 Afghans have left Pakistan since April 1, 10,741 of whom were deported. Convoys of Afghans pressured to leave Pakistan are driving to the border, fearing the "humiliation" of arrest, as the government's crackdown on migrants sees widespread public support. (Photo by Abdul BASIT / AFP)

KABUL: Nearly 60,000 Afghans have been forced to leave Pakistan since the start of April, the International Organization for Migration said, after Islamabad ramped up a campaign to deport migrants to Afghanistan. "Between 1 and 13 April 2025, IOM recorded a sharp rise in forced returns, with nearly 60,000 individuals crossing back into Afghanistan through the Torkham and Spin Boldak border points," the UN agency said in a statement. Families with their belongings in tow have crowded the crossings at Torkham in the north and Spin Boldak in the south, recalling scenes in 2023 when tens of thousands of Afghans fled deportation threats in Pakistan.

"With a new wave of large-scale returns now underway from Pakistan, needs on the ground are rising rapidly — both at the border and in areas of return that are struggling to absorb large numbers of returnees," said Mihyung Park, head of the IOM's Afghanistan mission. - AFP

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