A global humanitarian agency warned Afghanistan's neighbors Wednesday against expelling millions of refugees in the coming months, citing the country’s unpreparedness due to decades of conflict, economic devastation, and climate-related challenges.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, or NRC, reported that Iran plans to expel up to 2 million Afghan refugees by March, while at least 800,000 have already been deported from Pakistan since October 2023.
”The many vulnerable Afghans already returning from Iran, whom I met at the border this week, feel they live in an enduring limbo,” stated Jan Egeland, the NRC secretary-general.
“They left Afghanistan in search of a better and safer life and are now returning to an uncertain future in Afghanistan, where they face the same unemployment, hunger, and human rights violations that made them leave their homeland in the first place,” he said.
The NRC noted that most of the returnees are forced to remain in urban Afghan areas, struggling to find work or housing. While some have family connections, many lack ties after years in exile and have nowhere to go.
International aid is essential in alleviating immense humanitarian needs in Afghanistan, but it is now dwindling, lamented Egeland, adding that women and girls were bearing the brunt of the shortfall in financial support for nongovernmental groups and humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
The NRC chief warned that “the world has turned its back” to the needs of Afghans trapped in one of the worst humanitarian crises globally since the Taliban regained control of the country in August 2021.
"Poor and displaced Afghan families are paying a heavy price for a lack of real, durable solutions to assist displaced people and refugees caught in an escalating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and host countries," Egeland said.
The United Nations and nongovernmental humanitarian groups have persistently urged the international community to continue supporting the country.
Aid workers have expressed concerns that the Taliban’s restrictions on women's access to workplaces and public life are significantly impacting humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan. They complain that the curbs make it challenging to deliver essential public services, such as healthcare, nutrition, and immunization, particularly in provinces where Taliban authorities have banned male doctors from treating female patients.
The de facto hardline Afghan rulers have also prohibited girls from attending schools beyond the sixth grade and recently ordered medical training institutes nationwide not to accept female students.
Egeland said he raised “the severe restrictions on the fundamental rights” faced by Afghan women and girls in meetings with Taliban authorities.
“The ongoing ban on secondary education for girls means that 1.5 million teenage girls are out of school. Additionally, a new incomprehensible ban has shut down training for midwives and nurses, which will not only destroy livelihoods but will also directly threaten women's health and lives,” he cautioned.
Egeland, who regularly visits Afghanistan, emphasized the need for the international community to engage with the Taliban to secure the restoration of human rights for women and girls. He called for an increase in global support to fund crucial humanitarian assistance while urging the Taliban “to create an enabling environment.
“Many countries' continued disengagement with authorities in Afghanistan is only enabling more restrictions and suffering for the women, girls, and families here – many of whom see no option but to risk their lives on perilous journeys,” the NRC chief stated.
Pakistan has commended Egeland for drawing global attention to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and defended its policy of sending Afghan refugees to their native country.
“For forty years, Pakistan has generously hosted over four million Afghan refugees. Those sent back were residing illegally without any documentation or proof of residence,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement in Islamabad earlier this week.
The Taliban takeover led to nearly 700,000 Afghans seeking refuge in Pakistan. This includes individuals who fear retaliation for their association with the U.S-led Western allied troops, who were present in Afghanistan for nearly two decades until their withdrawal in August 2021.
“Progress on the cases of thousands of Afghan nationals who were promised resettlement in Western countries remains painfully slow. U.N. Humanitarian aid to Afghanistan remains critically underfunded, with only 37.5% of the required funds secured last year,” the Pakistani foreign ministry stated.
