Pakistan and Iran have intensified deportation campaigns against Afghans, contributing to more than six million returns to Afghanistan since late 2023, according to UNHCR and IOM data. The scale of the movement is among the largest influxes of Afghans in decades, with both countries increasing pressure on Afghan migrants to leave.
The influx has placed additional pressure on local resources, leaving returnees to navigate extreme poverty, scarce jobs and a restrictive domestic landscape shaped by Taliban rule.
