Record 6M Afghan refugees return to country in less than 3 years: UN

A record six million Afghan refugees have returned to their country in less than three years, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Thursday.

"Recent history hasn’t seen a return movement on this scale," the UNHCR said in a post on the US social media company X.

"It is critical that all returns everywhere are voluntary, safe and dignified," it added

The UNHCR did not provide further details on refugees' return; however, a bulk of them is believed to have been repatriated from neighboring Pakistan and Iran.

In June, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that more than 2.4 million Afghan nationals have returned to their country since Islamabad began implementing a phased repatriation program in September 2023.

According to UNHCR figures, approximately 2.1 million Afghans have returned from Iran since early 2025.

Pakistan had been hosting millions of Afghan refugees who fled their country following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the years of conflict and instability that followed.

According to the latest UN figures, over 777,000 documented Afghan refugees are still residing in Pakistan, whereas the number of illegal refugees is believed to be over 1 million.