The Taliban’s Commission for Addressing Migrant Affairs has announced that on Saturday, a total of 20735 Afghan migrants returned to the country through various border crossings.
According to the report, the returns took place via Islam Qala in Herat, Pul-e Abrisham in Nimruz, Spin Boldak in Kandahar, Torkham, and Angur Ada along the border with Pakistan.
Islam Qala was reported as the busiest entry point, with 1925 families, totalling 11350 individuals, entering Afghanistan through that crossing alone.
At Pul-e Abrisham in Nimruz province, 1797 families returned, along with an additional 1480 individuals travelling independently.
From the Spin Boldak crossing in Kandahar, 26 families were reported to have returned, while 56 families entered via Torkham, and four families through the Angur Ada crossing in Paktika province.
The overall data indicates that 3808 migrant families, comprising 20735 individuals, returned to Afghanistan on that single day.
This surge comes amid an intensified wave of both forced and voluntary returns of Afghan migrants from Iran and Pakistan in recent weeks, raising concerns about the capacity of local authorities to respond to their urgent humanitarian needs.
The United Nations has previously warned that Afghanistan is not equipped to absorb such a large number of returnees, given the country’s fragile infrastructure and ongoing economic crisis.
