A Homecoming of Despair: Over a Million Afghans Return to a Nation on the Brink of Starvation

UNHCR Warns of Catastrophic Humanitarian Crisis as 1.2 Million Afghans Flood Back from Pakistan to Dire Conditions, Compounding an Already Severe Food Shortage Where 12 Million Face Urgent Hunger.

Kabul [Afghanistan]: Imagine being forced back to a home that can’t feed you. That’s the heartbreaking reality for nearly 1.2 million Afghans who have returned from Pakistan since last September, many to truly dire circumstances. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has issued a stark, urgent warning: without immediate and significant support, Afghanistan is teetering on the edge of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. This sobering news comes via Khaama Press.

According to a UNHCR report released just this Thursday, between September 15, 2023, and June 30, 2025, a staggering 1.2 million Afghan migrants made the difficult, often involuntary, journey back across the border from Pakistan. While some humanitarian assistance has been provided – reaching over 156,000 returnees, including 98,000 registered cardholders – it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the overwhelming need, Khaama Press notes. The UN agency highlights a particularly vulnerable group: women and girls make up roughly half of those receiving aid, and about 2.2 percent of all returnees are individuals living with disabilities.

The numbers for this year alone are chilling: more than 315,000 Afghans have returned in 2025, and a disturbing 51,000 of them were forcibly deported by Pakistani authorities. Khaama Press reports that mounting political and security pressures in Pakistan are putting the long-term status of over two million Afghan refugees, many of whom have built lives there for decades, in severe jeopardy.

The UNHCR’s message is clear and grim: “Many returnees face bleak conditions, lacking proper housing, jobs, and access to essential services in an already fragile Afghanistan.” It’s not just a return; it’s a plunge into even deeper hardship.

Aid agencies, witnessing this unfolding tragedy firsthand, are desperately pleading with both Afghan authorities and the international community to dramatically scale up assistance. Their warning is stark: “without sustained help, the wave of returns could deepen Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis,” Khaama Press emphasizes.

This desperate situation is tragically compounded by a pre-existing, severe food crisis that has already gripped the nation. Afghanistan continues to hold the grim distinction of topping the list of countries facing acute food insecurity. A separate report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reveals that more than 12 million people are in urgent need of food assistance, with an overwhelming 75 percent of the population struggling with livelihood instability.

That FAO report, published on July 30, paints a global picture of despair: 295 million people across 53 nations are currently battling acute hunger—an increase of 13 million from last year alone. Afghanistan remains the hardest hit, followed by Ethiopia, Nigeria, Congo, Syria, and Yemen. This isn’t a new struggle for Afghanistan; it has consistently been on the FAO’s chronic hunger list since 2016, caught in a devastating cycle of political upheaval, relentless humanitarian crises, and the crushing blows of climate change, as reported by Khaama Press.

The FAO didn’t pull any punches, stating that “widespread poverty remains one of the main drivers of Afghanistan’s worsening food insecurity.” And if that wasn’t enough, consider the impact of these mass returns: the sheer number of people coming back from Iran and Pakistan, coupled with dwindling international aid and harsh economic restrictions, is pushing millions more deeper below the poverty line, trapping them in an inescapable cycle of destitution.

Beyond the stark numbers, the report screams about the human suffering: “According to the UN, 75 percent of Afghanistan’s population faces livelihood insecurity, and over 12 million people urgently need food assistance.” These aren’t just statistics; these are families, children, and entire communities fighting for their very lives, day in and day out.

Khaama Press further details how repeated, consecutive droughts, widespread unemployment, and a thoroughly shattered agricultural infrastructure have dealt a crushing blow to Afghanistan’s ability to feed itself. In provinces like Ghor and Badakhshan, prolonged droughts have brutally “destroyed crops and disrupted livestock farming – the main source of rural income,” as laid bare in the report. Their very means of survival have been ripped away.

Perhaps most heartbreakingly, the FAO notes that women and children are bearing the heaviest, most unfair burden in this escalating crisis. “Restrictions by the Taliban on women’s work and education have further cut families off from critical income sources,” the report starkly adds. This highlights how these policies aren’t just about human rights; they’re directly condemning families to greater hunger and instability.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has also issued its own grim warning, emphasizing the terrifying consequences if the world continues to delay. “Without increased humanitarian aid, hunger-related deaths in Afghanistan will continue to rise sharply,” WFP officials cautioned, a desperate reminder that every moment counts in this race against time.

According to FAO officials, as cited by Khaama Press, Afghanistan’s food crisis isn’t a singular problem, but the tragic result of a “dangerous mix of conflict, climate shocks, and collapsing livelihoods.” It’s a complex, brutal web of challenges that demands an immediate, multifaceted, and truly urgent response from the global community.

As the situation hangs precariously on the brink, aid agencies are making a desperate, heartfelt plea to the international community. “Without sustained funding and access for relief operations, Afghanistan risks spiraling into one of the world’s worst hunger disasters,” the report concludes. This isn’t just a report; it’s a desperate cry for humanity, a final, urgent call to action before countless lives are tragically lost.