ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A senior European Union official has announced a contribution of €250,000 to support Afghan returnees who have recently been expelled from Pakistan, as humanitarian agencies warn of growing needs among vulnerable families.
Andreas Papaconstantinou, director for the Middle East and Central Asia at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), said the funding would go toward the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to provide emergency relief inside Afghanistan.
“Many of them face poverty and uncertainty after losing the only home they knew,” Papaconstantinou wrote on X. “This support includes shelter, emergency health services, food, and water.”
He added that during a visit to Peshawar, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, he met Afghan returnees who are receiving assistance through EU humanitarian programs. “The needs are enormous,” he wrote. “I heard their stories and was deeply moved by their resilience. We will continue to stand by them.”
According to the United Nations, nearly 120,000 Afghans have returned from Pakistan in the past three weeks alone, part of a broader deportation campaign initiated by Pakistani authorities in late 2023. Many of the returnees are living in temporary shelters and face critical shortages of food, clean water, and medical care.
Humanitarian agencies have called for increased international support to help Afghanistan absorb the influx, as the country remains in the grip of an economic and humanitarian crisis under Taliban rule.
