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IFRC warns one million more Afghans could be deported from Iran
The UNHCR also voiced alarm at the scale and speed of returns. Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the agency, said more than 50,000 Afghans crossed back from Iran on July 4 alone.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned Tuesday that an additional one million Afghans could be deported from Iran by the end of 2025, intensifying an already dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and overwhelming an underfunded aid response.
According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), more than 1.2 million Afghans have been returned from Iran since the start of the year, with daily returns surging sharply in recent weeks—particularly after escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, which exchanged missile and drone strikes last month.
Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva, Sami Fakhouri, head of the IFRC Delegation for Afghanistan, said he witnessed firsthand the mass returns at Islam Qala, the main border crossing in Afghanistan’s western Herat province.
“We are anticipating that an additional one million people, possibly more, may return from Iran to Afghanistan by the end of this year,” Fakhouri said. “The majority didn’t have a say in coming back. They were put on buses and driven to the border.”
The forced returns are placing acute strain on Afghanistan’s border provinces, particularly in Herat and Nimroz, where thousands of returnees arrive daily—many without shelter, documentation, or family support. Aid workers say the flow of people has become nearly unmanageable.
Fakhouri warned that many returnees are now homeless, having fled Afghanistan years ago due to war, drought, or political persecution, and now returning to communities that no longer exist or are unable to support them.
The IFRC has appealed for 25 million Swiss francs ($31.4 million) to fund emergency support for returnees, including food, shelter, and health services at border points and in transit camps. As of this week, the appeal is only 10 percent funded, raising fears that vital aid operations may be scaled back.
“We are very concerned about how long we can maintain services without additional funding,” Fakhouri said.
The UNHCR also voiced alarm at the scale and speed of returns. Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the agency, said more than 50,000 Afghans crossed back from Iran on July 4 alone, underscoring the intensity of the current wave of deportations.
“Tens of thousands are arriving from Iran every day,” Baloch said. “The psychological scars are going to stay with Afghans who have been made to come back to the country in this way.”
Baloch also highlighted concerns over family separations, with many deported individuals unable to locate spouses or children after arriving in Afghanistan. Aid agencies say Iran frequently deports individuals without prior notice or the opportunity to arrange safe returns for entire families.
Iran’s crackdown on undocumented migrants comes amid growing domestic economic strain and rising anti-migrant sentiment, exacerbated by international sanctions, inflation, and security concerns following recent regional military escalations.
Iran has hosted millions of Afghan nationals over the past four decades, many of whom arrived during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and later during the U.S.-led war. However, the government in Tehran has increased deportations sharply since 2023, citing internal pressures and national security risks.
Pakistan has also deported hundreds of thousands of Afghans in recent months, part of what human rights organizations describe as a regional pattern of forced returns that disproportionately affects vulnerable groups, including women, children, and ethnic minorities.
An earthquake of magnitude 5.3 struck Afghanistan on Friday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The quake occurred at 10:09 local time at a depth of 35 km, USGS said.
Its epicentre was 25 kilometres from Nahrin district of Baghlan province in north Afghanistan.
Chairman of U.S. House intelligence committee, Rick Crawford, has criticized the Biden administration’s handling of Afghan admissions to the United States following the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In a statement, Crawford said that alongside large numbers of migrants entering through the U.S. southern border, approximately 190,000 Afghan nationals were granted entry under Operation Allies Welcome after the U.S. military withdrawal. He claimed that many of those admitted lacked proper documentation and, in some cases, were allowed into the country without comprehensive biometric data being collected.
Crawford said that the United States had a duty to protect Afghans who worked alongside U.S. forces and institutions during the two-decade conflict. However, he argued that the rapid and poorly coordinated nature of the withdrawal created conditions that overwhelmed existing screening and vetting systems.
“The rushed and poorly planned withdrawal created a perfect storm,” Crawford said, asserting that it compromised the government’s ability to fully assess who was being admitted into the country.
He said that there 18,000 known or suspected terrorists in the U.S.
“Today, I look forward to getting a better understanding of the domestic counterterrorism picture, and hearing how the interagency is working to find, monitor, prosecute, and deport known or suspected terrorists that never should have entered our country to begin with,” he said.
The Biden administration has previously defended Operation Allies Welcome, stating that multiple layers of security screening were conducted in coordination with U.S. intelligence, defense, and homeland security agencies. Nonetheless, the evacuation and resettlement of Afghan nationals remains a contentious political issue, particularly amid broader debates over immigration and border security.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration recently ordered its diplomats worldwide to stop processing visas for Afghan nationals, effectively suspending the special immigration program for Afghans who helped the United States during its 20-year-long occupation of their home country.
The decision came after a former member of one of Afghanistan’s CIA-backed units was accused of shooting two U.S. National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C.
Mohammad Fasihuddin Fitrat, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, says that over the past four years, the army forces of the Islamic Emirate have shown no hesitation in defending and protecting Afghanistan, and that today the country’s army is standing on its own feet.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Defense, Fitrat made these remarks at a meeting with media representatives, political analysts, and a number of government officials aimed at coordination and strengthening cooperation. He added: “Nations that cannot stand on their own feet and rely on others, even if they grow, will not be capable of achieving real progress.”
Fitrat also expressed appreciation for the role of the media in ensuring security and in supporting the country’s defense forces, stating: “We and you, as citizens of this land, must put our hands together and build the country together, take pride in our forces, and strive with all our strength for the country’s development. We have created an army that defends honor, territorial integrity, and the borders of the country, and serves as the guardian of our freedom.”
He emphasized that the Islamic Emirate is working to establish an army equipped with modern weapons so that it can defend the country’s territory under all circumstances.
He stated that the country’s army has proven to the people that anyone who looks at this land with ill intent will face a firm and courageous response, and that it has also been made clear to neighboring countries that any aggression against Afghanistan will be met with a response several times stronger.
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