WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - More than 700,000 Afghan migrants have returned from Iran so far this year, including 256,000 in June alone, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported on Monday, warning of immense pressures on Afghanistan's overstretched support systems.
Ninety-nine per cent of the returnees were undocumented, and 70 per cent were forcibly returned, with a steep rise in families being deported - a shift from earlier months, when most returnees were single young men, according to the UN agency.
The rise follows a March decision by the Iranian Government requiring all undocumented Afghans to leave the country.
Conditions deteriorated further after the recent 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel, which caused the daily refugees crossings to skyrocket from about 5,000 to nearly 30,000, according to Arafat Jamal, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) representative in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan, already grappling with economic collapse and chronic humanitarian crisis, is unprepared to absorb such large-scale returns.
The 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan calls for $2.42 billion in funding, but only 22.2 per cent has been secured to date.
'The scale of returns is deeply alarming and demands a stronger and more immediate international response,' said IOM Director General Amy Pope, 'Afghanistan cannot manage this alone.'
Meanwhile, UNHCR alongside partners is working to address the urgent needs of those arriving.
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