TIRINKOT, Afghanistan — Thousands of families forcibly returned from neighboring countries are now grappling with deepening poverty, unemployment and lack of basic services in their homeland.
Among them is Zarghona, a 67-year-old woman who recently returned to Uruzgan Province after spending decades as a refugee in Pakistan. Her husband, Ikhtiarullah, once a laborer who spent his youth working construction jobs to support his family, now lies bedridden, unable to work.
“By God, we don’t even have bread to eat,” Zarghona said, standing outside her modest mud-brick home. “One child asks for tea, another asks for bread, but we have nothing—not in the morning, not at night. Life has become unbearably difficult.”
Zarghona spends her days caring for her ill husband and searching for enough food to get her family through the night. With no source of income and no access to government support, their future, like that of many recently deported families, remains uncertain.
“I’m lying here helpless,” Ikhtiarullah said in a frail voice. “I have seven or eight children. We have nothing—no food, no water, not even a cup of tea. Our condition is very bad.”
Their story is echoed by tens of thousands of Afghans who have been deported from Pakistan and Iran in recent months. According to aid organizations, the rate of forced returns has surged, particularly since Pakistan began a second phase of mass expulsions this spring.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that over 128,000 Afghans were deported from Pakistan between April 1 and May 12 alone. Many of those returning have no homes, jobs, or relatives in Afghanistan. Some have spent their entire lives in exile and now face reintegration into a country still reeling from economic crisis and political uncertainty.
The lack of shelter, healthcare, and employment opportunities has placed severe pressure on local communities already stretched by years of war and underinvestment. Aid groups have warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe if immediate support is not provided.
Zarghona and her husband, now symbols of the hardship endured by returnees, say they feel abandoned. “We gave everything we had to build a life,” she said. “Now we’ve come back to nothing.”
