Key Points
- Over 4.5 million returnees since 2023 are putting additional strain on services
- Women’s workforce participation has dropped to 6%
- Debt among returnees ranges from $373 to $900, far exceeding average monthly incomes
- Urgent support is needed to prevent deepening poverty, hunger, and secondary displacement
ISLAMABAD: Nine in 10 Afghan households are skipping meals, selling belongings, or going into debt to survive, the United Nations said on Wednesday, warning that mass returns are worsening the country’s deepest crisis since the Taliban returned to power.
A UNDP report highlights that over 4.5 million Afghans have returned from abroad since 2023, mainly from Iran and Pakistan, swelling the population by around 10 per cent. Natural disasters, including earthquakes, floods, and droughts, have destroyed some 8,000 homes, putting public services under extreme strain. Women, who now make up just 6 per cent of the workforce, are disproportionately affected, especially in households they head.
A survey of more than 48,000 households found that over half of returnee families have skipped medical care to buy food, while 45 per cent rely on unprotected water sources. Nearly 90 per cent of returnees are in debt, with amounts ranging from $373 to $900 — up to five times the average monthly income of $100 and nearly half the annual per-capita GDP.
In provinces with high numbers of returnees, teachers manage 70 to 100 students each, 30 per cent of children are working, and unemployment among returnees reaches 95 per cent. Average monthly income stands at 6,623 Afghans ($99.76), while rents have tripled in some districts.
The UNDP warned that without urgent support for livelihoods and services in high-return areas, overlapping crises of poverty, exclusion, and migration will intensify. Donor pledges have dropped sharply since 2021, covering only a fraction of the $3.1 billion sought for Afghanistan this year.
Kanni Wignaraja, UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP regional director for Asia and the Pacific, said, “In some provinces one in four households depend on women as the main breadwinner, so when women are prevented from working, families, communities, the country loses out.” She stressed that households led by women, making up as much as 26 per cent of returnee families in some districts, face the highest risk of food insecurity and secondary displacement. The UNDP urged the Taliban authorities to allocate more resources and called on donors to lift restrictions on female aid staff. Wignaraja added, “Cutting women out of frontline aid work means cutting off vital services for those who need them most.”
The Taliban government has appealed for international humanitarian assistance following a deadly earthquake in eastern Afghanistan in September and has formally protested Pakistan’s mass expulsion of Afghan nationals, expressing deep concern about their treatment.
