Immigration

Record 256,000 Afghans return from Iran in June: IOM

Returning migrants from Iran. Photo: IOM

A record 256,000 Afghan migrants returned from Iran in June alone, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Monday, warning that critical funding gaps have left the agency able to assist only 10 percent of those in need.

The massive spike, driven by a March 20 deadline from the Iranian government ordering undocumented Afghans to leave the country, has pushed Afghanistan’s border infrastructure and humanitarian response systems to their limits.

On June 25, more than 28,000 people crossed into Afghanistan from Iran in a single day, according to IOM. Since January, over 714,000 Afghan nationals have returned from Iran — 99 percent of them undocumented and 70 percent forcibly deported. The returns are increasingly composed of families, marking a shift from earlier patterns dominated by single young men.

“The sheer number of returns from Iran, coming so soon after a spike from Pakistan, is placing immense strain on an already fragile response system,” said Amy Pope, IOM’s director general. “Families are arriving with nothing but the clothes on their backs, exhausted and in urgent need of food, medical care and support.”

So far this month, just over 23,000 returnees have received assistance at IOM-operated reception centers at the Islam Qala and Milak border crossings, and at transit sites in Herat and Nimroz Provinces. Services provided include emergency food, temporary shelter, transportation, healthcare, cash aid, and psychosocial support — especially for vulnerable groups such as women and children.

The IOM has repeatedly warned that Afghanistan lacks the capacity to absorb such high numbers of returnees. Combined with returnees from Pakistan, the number of migrants forced back into Afghanistan this year is nearing 900,000. Aid agencies caution that the influx threatens to overwhelm local systems and destabilize already fragile communities.

IOM is calling for urgent international funding and regional cooperation to manage the situation. “Without coordinated action and adequate resources, the crisis risks spiraling beyond the control of any single actor,” the agency said.

It also reiterated that all returns must be safe, voluntary, and sustainable, and emphasized the need for reintegration support to prevent future cycles of displacement.