KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban have called on the Qatar Red Crescent to expand its humanitarian programs in Afghanistan, with a focus on supporting migrants returning from neighboring countries, Taliban officials said Thursday.
In a statement, the Taliban’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said that Abdul Manan Omari, the Taliban acting minister, made the request during a meeting with Hussain Boutani, the head of the Qatar Red Crescent’s mission in Afghanistan.
The ministry said Boutani reaffirmed Qatar’s commitment to continuing its humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. No photographs of the meeting were released by the Taliban.
The request comes as Pakistan intensifies the second phase of its forced deportations of Afghan migrants, a campaign that has drawn international concern. Thousands of Afghans have returned in recent weeks, many reporting that Pakistani police confiscated their property during expulsion, leaving them vulnerable upon arrival back in Afghanistan.
Several returnees told Amu TV that they now face severe challenges in rebuilding their lives without adequate resources, housing, or employment opportunities.
Humanitarian organizations have warned that Afghanistan’s fragile social and economic conditions — already strained by years of conflict and international isolation — are ill-equipped to absorb the sudden influx of returnees without urgent international assistance.
