Islamic Relief: Taliban Policies Against Women Have Paralyzed the Response to the Forced Return of Refugees

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Islamic Relief has warned that Afghanistan this year is facing the largest wave of forced returns of refugees in the world; a wave that has brought nearly three million people into the country in the past nine months, with women and children making up a large portion.

In a report published on Tuesday (September 23), the organization stated that more than two million people have returned from Iran and about 700,000 from Pakistan during this period. One-third of the returnees from Iran and nearly half of those from Pakistan are women and girls.

According to the organization, most of the returnees enter the country in conditions described as “poor, exhausted, and hopeless” and are in urgent need of support, shelter, food, and health services.

This wave has hit Afghanistan at a time when the country is simultaneously facing several other crises, from deadly recent earthquakes in the east to economic collapse, severe food insecurity, and widespread drought.

Islamic Relief also reported that the capacity to respond to this crisis has been reduced due to Taliban policies. The report highlighted the closure of eight service centers of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which were shut down due to the Taliban’s ban on women working.

Despite these restrictions, Islamic Relief stated that it has so far distributed more than 290,000 packages of food and drinking water at the Torkham and Spin Boldak border crossings with Pakistan and Islam Qala with Iran.

Officials of the organization have warned that returnees are being sent to Afghanistan “by force” and that their prospects for life in a country facing deep economic, environmental, and humanitarian crises are “bleak and worrying.”