Kabul: Nearly nine in ten Afghan families are going hungry or sinking into debt as millions of returnees stretch the country’s already fragile resources, the United Nations said in a new report.
Afghanistan, under Taliban rule and struggling with international sanctions, aid cuts, and repeated natural disasters, is working to absorb about 4.5 million people who have returned since 2023. Of them, nearly 1.5 million were forced back this year from Pakistan and Iran, which have intensified efforts to expel Afghan refugees.
According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), more than half of the returnee households are skipping medical care to buy food, while over 90 percent have taken on debt. The average household debt ranges from $373 to $900, even though the monthly income barely touches $100. The findings are based on a survey of over 48,000 households.
Returnees are also facing a housing crisis as rents have tripled across several provinces. More than half report insufficient space or bedding, while 18 percent have been displaced again in the past year. In western Afghanistan’s Injil and Guzara districts, most returnees live in tents or deteriorating structures.
The UNDP urged immediate action to strengthen livelihoods and essential services in areas with large numbers of returnees. The agency stressed that area-based recovery, linking jobs, housing, and basic services, can help reduce pressure on overburdened communities and prevent further displacement.
Aid for Afghanistan has plummeted since the Taliban takeover in 2021. Donor nations have failed to meet the UN’s $3.1 billion appeal for 2024, leaving millions at risk. The Taliban administration, still reeling from a deadly earthquake earlier this year, has appealed for greater humanitarian support and voiced concern over Pakistan’s mass deportation of Afghan nationals.
The UNDP also highlighted that restrictions on women’s employment and movement have worsened the crisis. Female participation in Afghanistan’s labour force has fallen to just six percent, among the lowest in the world. Many households depend on women as primary earners, yet they are now largely cut off from work, education, and healthcare.
Kanni Wignaraja, UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP regional director for Asia and the Pacific, warned that excluding women from the workforce is damaging both families and the nation.
In some provinces, one in four households relies on women breadwinners, she said, adding that when women are sidelined, entire communities lose vital services, including support for returnees and disaster victims.
