ISLAMABAD: UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday that more than 423,000 Afghan nationals, including over 53,000 deportees, returned from Pakistan to Afghanistan from January 1 to May 10, 2026.
According to statistics shared by UNHCR Pakistan’s spokesperson Qaiser Khan Afridi, a total of 423,168 Afghans, including 53,569 deportees, returned to Afghanistan. He stated that the illegal and undocumented Afghans’ repatriation and deportation process remains ongoing through various border points, particularly the Torkham and Chaman crossings.
The UNHCR spokesperson noted that the Torkham border remained closed from February 27 to March 26, 2026, due to heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, temporarily affecting cross-border movement and repatriation activities.
According to UNHCR data, Pakistan reported that 1,125,946 refugees returned to Afghanistan during 2025, including 154,663 deportees.
Qaiser Afridi further said that since September 2023 up to May 10, 2026, approximately 2.35 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan. Of the total number, around 246,500 individuals were deported, he added. Meanwhile, official records indicate that 4,171 Afghan nationals residing illegally in Pakistan were repatriated to Afghanistan through the Torkham border crossing on May 10 alone.
The individuals were processed through multiple holding facilities established near the Hamza Baba shrine in Landi Kotal, as well as old Refugee camps in Peshawar’s Nasir Bagh Juma Khan area, Nowshera Azakhel, Swabi, Kohat, Haripur, and other locations before being transported to the border for onward movement into Afghanistan.
The repatriation drive is continuing under Pakistan’s policy regarding undocumented and illegal foreign nationals, with authorities maintaining registration and transfer operations at designated camps across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other regions.
Despite ongoing tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the repatriation of illegal and undocumented Afghan nationals was underway uninterrupted. Special desks and facilitation centres were set up at Torkham and Chaman border crossings for Afghans being sent back to Afghanistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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