Over 10,000 Afghan refugees return from Pakistan, Iran in single day

Kabul [Afghanistan], November 21 (ANI): A total of 10,405 Afghan citizens returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan in a single day, Pajhwok News Agency reported on Thursday, citing officials.

According to Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the High Commission for Addressing Migrants' Issues recorded the return of 1,763 families on Wednesday. Fitrat shared the update on his official X account.

He noted that the returnees entered Afghanistan through several border crossings: Salma Qala in Herat, Pul-i-Abdesham in Nimroz, Spin Boldak in Kandahar, Bahramcha in Helmand, and the Torkham crossing in Nangarhar.

Fitrat added that 2,222 returnee families (13,303 people) were transported to their home provinces, and 1,534 individuals received humanitarian aid.

These returns follow other mass repatriations earlier in the week: on Sunday, 12,666 Afghan refugees were sent back from Iran and Pakistan, and on Tuesday, another 7,326 Afghans were forcibly repatriated.

Chagai and Quetta in Balochistan and Attock in Punjab were the top three districts across the country where most Afghan Citizen Card ACC holders or undocumented Afghan nationals were arrested or detained over more than ten months this year, Dawn reported, citing a United Nations refugee agency assessment.

The report stated that the highest number of arrests or detentions occurred in 2025, with 100,971 Afghans arrested from January 1 to November 8, 2025, compared to 9,006 Afghans detained in 2024 and 26,299 Afghans arrested in 2023.

According to the UNHCR report, released on Friday, before 2023, there was no data collected on the arrest and detention of ACC holders or undocumented Afghan nationals. Since January 2023, the International Organisation for Migration IOM has been collecting such data.

From November 2 to November 8, a total of 13,380 Afghan nationals were arrested and detained, marking a 72 per cent increase from the previous week. (ANI)

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