UNHCR chief visits Kabul as refugee returns to Afghanistan surge

ISTANBUL

UN refugee agency (UNHCR) chief Filippo Grandi arrived in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday to assess the growing needs of Afghan returnees, as nearly 2 million people have returned from Iran and Pakistan in recent months, many through forced deportations.

“Resolving refugee issues is a shared responsibility,” said Sheikh Kaleem-ur-Rahman Fani, deputy minister at the Taliban administration’s interim Ministry of Refugees, in remarks carried by local broadcaster Ariana News.

He stressed the need for sustained international support in shelter, education, and health care, beyond emergency aid.

Grandi reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to Afghanistan despite what he described as growing global financial constraints. He is also expected to visit Herat in the country's northwest to observe the situation on the ground.

His visit follows warnings by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, who on Friday called for an immediate end to forced returns of Afghans, especially those at risk of persecution. Turk described the situation as a “multi-layered human rights crisis.”

Afghan authorities have urged Iranian officials to conduct returns with “gradualism, dignity, and in line with good neighborly principles.”

According to the UN's International Organization for Migration, nearly half a million Afghans have returned from Iran in just over a month.

The UN rights office estimates that 1.9 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan in the past seven months – more than 1.5 million from Iran alone – with 60% of them deported.

Separately, Mawlavi Abdul Kabir, the interim minister of refugees and repatriation, met with UK Charge d’Affaires Robert Chatterton Dixon and British Embassy representative Richard Lindsay, according to the state-run Bakhtar News Agency.

Kabir called on the UK to help build housing for returnees.

Afghan’s interim Public Health Minister Mawlavi Noor Jalal Jalali also held talks with the British delegation. Discussions focused on expanding healthcare access and training medical personnel to better serve vulnerable populations.

Dixon and Lindsay expressed continued UK support for these efforts and highlighted the importance of international collaboration in rebuilding Afghanistan’s health sector.