KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – More than 574,000 Afghan migrants have returned from Iran over the past 22 days, according to Ahmadullah Muttaqi, the Taliban’s Director of Information and Culture in Herat.
He stated that 234,907 of the returnees came back voluntarily, while 339,334 were forcibly deported. On Sunday alone, 21,037 Afghans entered the country from Iran, with 7,775 returning willingly and 13,262 expelled.
Taliban authorities say they are providing essential services to returnees at the Islam Qala border crossing, including registration, emergency aid, and transport to their home provinces.
However, humanitarian agencies warn that the sheer scale of returnees is overwhelming local infrastructure and aid capacity, as the influx continues to surge.
According to figures from the United Nations, nearly 450,000 Afghans returned from Iran between June 1 and July 5 alone. The UN reported that on July 1, over 43,000 migrants crossed back into Afghanistan in a single day, the highest daily return rate recorded so far.
Since the beginning of 2025, more than one million Afghans are believed to have returned from Iran, with over 1.2 million forced to leave both Iran and Pakistan this year.
The mass returns come amid a renewed deportation drive by the Iranian government. Iranian authorities have been pushing out large numbers of undocumented Afghan nationals, claiming security and economic concerns. Reports indicate that Iran has begun targeting up to four million Afghans currently living within its borders, accusing some of espionage and tightening border policies in the aftermath of regional tensions, including its recent confrontation with Israel.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UNHCR, many returnees arrive in extreme heat, exhausted, and without shelter, food, or medical support. They often face long and grueling journeys, only to find themselves in overcrowded reception centers inside a country grappling with economic collapse and humanitarian crisis.
