Acting Minister of Economy Urges UN to Assist Returning Afghan Migrants

The Ministry of Economy held a meeting with representatives of the United Nations to seek support for Afghan migrants forcibly returned from Pakistan.

Din Mohammad Hanif, acting head of the ministry, criticized Pakistan’s approach to the forced deportation of Afghan migrants and called on humanitarian organizations to assist them.

Hanif stated: “As you played a vital role in supporting Afghan deportees during the previous round of expulsions, we now ask you to take an active part in this phase as well.”

Representatives from various UN agencies also emphasized their commitment to addressing the challenges facing returnees.

Indrika Ratwatte, deputy head of UNAMA, said: “It’s difficult to look at a projection and how many returnees will come at this stage, but looking at the past trends of the years before, we are planning for minimum of 600,000 response and to a maximum of a worst case scenario to over 1.5 million.”

Arafat Jamal, head of UNHCR for Afghanistan, stated: “We say to them that we thank them for the decades that they have hosted Afghans. When they have opened their doors, they have opened their lands, their health facilities and their schools, we thank them for that generosity.”

Tajudeen Oyewale, the UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, said: “For this year we estimated around 800,000 children who will be coming back with their families to Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, other UN agencies—including the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM)—expressed serious concerns over severe budget shortages for humanitarian assistance.

They emphasized efforts to address returnee challenges through their international partners.

The acting minister of economy also reported that just yesterday, 5,000 people were forcibly deported through the Torkham crossing, and another 1,543 via Spin Boldak.