The United Nations refugee agency warned Friday that it is running out of resources to support millions of Afghans returning from neighbouring countries and appealed for $258 million in urgent funding.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said about 2.6 million Afghans have returned, many through forced deportations, and described the situation as a “crisis within a crisis.” The agency noted that local communities are still reeling from the impact of recent earthquakes while facing a surge in returnees from Pakistan.
According to UNHCR, Pakistan has expelled more than 554,000 Afghan migrants since April, including 143,000 in August alone. In the first week of September, more than 100,000 Afghans returned.
The agency urged Pakistan to extend the legal stay of vulnerable Afghans, pointing to the country’s long record of hosting refugees.
UNHCR also confirmed it has suspended some operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban barred female staff from entering its offices. It stressed that aid for women cannot be delivered without female employees and called for the immediate lifting of restrictions.
The agency warned that without fresh funding, it will be unable to continue delivering life-saving assistance to returnees.
The Taliban have confirmed that a delegation of their diplomats travelled to Europe for talks on Afghan refugees, humanitarian aid and the future of Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions, sources told Afghanistan International on Friday.
The delegation included Abdul Qahar Balkhi, spokesperson for the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry.
Radio Hurriyat, a Taliban-linked outlet, reported that the five-member team visited Austria, where they held discussions with the Interior and Foreign Ministries on Afghanistan’s diplomatic representation.
The outlet said the delegation also travelled to Switzerland and Germany in recent weeks, meeting officials to discuss similar issues. Taliban authorities have not commented publicly on the visits.
In late July, Balkhi confirmed that the Taliban had cooperated with the German government on deportations of Afghan refugees, a process he said was facilitated by Qatar. He added that further talks were planned to ensure “transparent and standard consular services” for Afghans living in Germany.
Germany’s Foreign Ministry confirmed to Afghanistan International in early August that Taliban diplomats had entered the country and would begin work after completing administrative procedures. The ministry said the move was intended to meet the consular needs of Afghans in Germany.
In late August, Swiss state television reported that four Taliban diplomats had travelled to Geneva to help identify Afghan nationals convicted of crimes.
The Taliban have expelled Harish Kumar, a senior Indian diplomat, accusing him of meeting opponents of the group and attempting to organise them, sources told Afghanistan International.
Kumar was declared “persona non grata” and forced to leave Kabul on 17 August, the sources said. He had served as a diplomat and officer with India’s external intelligence service in Kabul since the fall of the former Afghan government.
According to the sources, Kumar had met with anti-Taliban leaders during visits to Delhi and Qatar, where discussions were held about convening a meeting in Islamabad. That gathering, planned for 25–26 August, was postponed after senior Taliban leaders, including Abdul Ghani Baradar, Yaqoob Mujahid and Amir Khan Muttaqi, strongly objected. The Taliban also publicly criticised Pakistan over the initiative.
The sources said Kumar later explored the possibility of holding a similar meeting in Qatar or Dubai, as Delhi was unhappy about the prospect of such talks taking place in Islamabad.
Kumar returned to Kabul on 13 August and, two days later, reportedly met several Taliban opponents at a restaurant in the Shahr-e-Naw district. Taliban intelligence raided the meeting, detaining Afghan participants, the sources said.
On 16 August, Taliban officials summoned Indian embassy staff and informed them of their decision to expel Kumar. He left Kabul the following day for Delhi. The Indian embassy has not yet commented.
Despite decades of hostility, India and the Taliban have expanded contacts over the past two years. India handed control of Afghan embassies and consulates to the Taliban, while the foreign ministers of both sides have spoken by phone at least twice. India also invited the Taliban’s foreign minister to Delhi twice, though the visits were blocked by the UN Security Council.
At the same time, Pakistan has accused the Taliban of colluding with Delhi to support Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch separatists , allegations the Taliban deny.
The Taliban’s intelligence chief said Thursday that some countries were dispatching ISIS fighters to Afghanistan to destabilise the country. He warned that the international community would pay a “heavy price” if it ignored the threat.
Abdul Haq Wasiq, head of the Taliban’s intelligence agency, told Al Jazeera that ISIS no longer had a real base in Afghanistan and controlled no territory. He said recent attacks carried out inside the country or in the region had been planned from abroad.
Taliban officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of harbouring ISIS in its Balochistan province, though Islamabad argues that Afghanistan under Taliban control has become a hub for militant groups including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and ISIS-Khorasan. Relations between the two sides have soured amid cross-border militant attacks.
Wasiq dismissed reports of fighters being transferred from Syria to Afghanistan as fabrications by intelligence agencies. He said such claims were intended to create mistrust, erode confidence and damage the Taliban’s political and security engagement on the international stage.
He maintained that Afghanistan was itself a victim of terrorism, alleging that militant groups maintained training camps abroad, purchased weapons on the black market and sent fighters to create instability inside the country. Wasiq warned that if regional and global powers remained indifferent or applied double standards to the issue, they would all face serious consequences in the future.
He rejected reports of intelligence cooperation with the United States, saying the Taliban had no partnership or formal agreement with any foreign power.
Wasiq also claimed that the Taliban’s intelligence agency had been “cleansed,” and that arbitrary arrests, torture and intimidation of civilians had ended. He argued that ISIS had become a tool of certain foreign intelligence services, and that some countries, by exaggerating the group’s presence and ignoring the transfer of fighters and funds, were inadvertently contributing to its growth.
His remarks came as international organisations continued to warn of militant activity inside Afghanistan. Pakistan has estimated that some 6,000 TTP fighters are present in the country, while Russia has raised concerns about militants arriving from Syria. The United Nations has also reported that al-Qaida has re-established itself in Afghanistan with several bases.
Special envoys from Pakistan and Tajikistan met this week to discuss the growing threat of terrorism in the region and the need for a coordinated response, Pakistani officials said.
Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s envoy for Afghanistan, said he and his Tajik counterpart, Khisrav Sohibzoda, agreed on the importance of developing a joint and coordinated strategy to counter extremist threats. The talks took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, he added.
Sadiq did not provide further details about the proposed strategy.
Both Pakistan and Tajikistan have repeatedly voiced concerns about the spread of terrorism from Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power four years ago.
Following a recent suicide attack on a security forces base near the Afghan border, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif accused the Taliban of complicity, saying that "Taliban terrorists are celebrating with the blood of our sons.”
Pakistani authorities have long alleged that the Afghan Taliban provide safe haven to fighters from Tehrek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The United Nations estimates that about 6,000 TTP militants are based in Afghanistan, where UN experts say they operate training camps.
Tajikistan has also raised alarm about militant infiltration from Afghanistan. With support from the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, Dushanbe has announced plans to strengthen its Afghan border under a three-phase programme set to run over five years.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has stated that Afghan women and girls are being systematically excluded from education, employment and public life.
The UN agency stressed that conditions are even worse for those returning from Iran and Pakistan.
According to the report, since 2021 returning women’s access to essential services has sharply declined. Data shows that 21 precent of returnee women struggle to access clean water, compared with 14 precent among non-returnees. In addition, 22 percent face barriers to public health care, while 28 percent encounter obstacles to receiving legal services.
UNHCR said returning women are more isolated and face greater psychological stress. Only 19 percent said they have daily contact with other women, while 40 precent described their mental health as “very poor.”
Critical Situation for Female-Headed Households
The report said female-headed households carry heavier burdens. Sixty-one percent reported working long hours that damage their wellbeing, while food insecurity was higher than in male-headed households.
The absence of identity documents was identified as one of the biggest barriers to integration. Two out of three families said their members lacked property or civil documents. Requirements for women to be accompanied by a male guardian, along with limited knowledge of administrative processes, were cited as major obstacles to obtaining identity papers.
The report also found that women have minimal representation in local structures, with most decisions made by men. Returnee families reported facing more threats, denial of services and discrimination compared with host communities.
UNHCR warned that many cases of domestic violence and forced marriage go unreported, with women more likely to seek help from local elders or relatives rather than from courts or police.
Girls Allowed to Study Are Dropping Out
The report said girls’ access to education has declined significantly. Overcrowded schools, long travel distances and early marriage were identified as major causes of dropout. Under Taliban rule, girls are permitted to study only from grades one to six.
UNHCR said that addressing these challenges requires working with local councils and religious leaders, raising awareness, strengthening referral services, creating support networks, providing women-focused legal services and cash assistance, expanding psychosocial support, and creating livelihood opportunities in cooperation with the private sector.
Many international organisations have blamed the Taliban for this situation, stressing that the group’s restrictions on women’s education, work and freedom of movement have paralysed their daily lives.
Reports have consistently noted that Afghanistan is currently among the worst countries in the world for women, where the fundamental rights of half the population are systematically violated.