Nearly 60,000 Afghans return from Pakistan in two weeks: IOM

IOM official says rising needs are emerging at the border and in return areas as large-scale returns from Pakistan continue

Afghan citizens wait with their belongings to cross into Afghanistan at the Friendship Gate of Chaman Border Crossing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border in Balochistan.

Reuters/File

Nearly 60,000 Afghans have been forced to leave Pakistan since the start of April, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday, after Islamabad ramped up a campaign to deport migrants to Afghanistan.

"Between 1 and 13 April 2025, IOM recorded a sharp rise in forced returns, with nearly 60,000 individuals crossing back into Afghanistan through the Torkham and Spin Boldak border points," the UN agency said in a statement.

"With a new wave of large-scale returns now underway from Pakistan, needs on the ground are rising rapidly -- both at the border and in areas of return that are struggling to absorb large numbers of returnees," said Mihyung Park, head of the agency's Afghanistan mission.

Pakistan last month set an early April deadline for some 800,000 Afghans carrying Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) issued by Pakistan authorities to leave the country.

Families with their belongings in tow have crowded key border crossings of Torkham in the north and Spin Boldak in the south, recalling scenes in 2023 when tens of thousands of Afghans fled deportation threats in Pakistan.

The UN says nearly three million Afghans live in Pakistan, many having been there for decades, after fleeing successive conflicts in their country and following the Taliban's return to power in Kabul in 2021.