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A young boy with his back to the camera stands with an adult man in front of a pharmacy window in Afghanistan

Omid*, 12, was forced to leave Pakistan and move to Afghanistan with his nine brothers and sisters. Save the Children is supporting the family at a transit center. *Names changed to protect identities

On Average, One Child Returns to Afghanistan Every 30 Seconds Amid Worsening Humanitarian Crisis – Save the Children

KABUL, (August 11, 2025) – On average, the equivalent of one child every 30 seconds has returned to Afghanistan from Iran or Pakistan so far this year, many with nothing but the clothes they're wearing, at a time when nearly half the country's population already needs humanitarian aid, Save the Children warned today.

Afghanistan is grappling with a new migration crisis four years after the Taliban's return to power triggered a mass exodus of Afghans to neighboring countries.

An analysis of International Organization for Migration (IOM) data found that more than 800,000 children have crossed into Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan in 2025, about three in four from Iran. This is double the total for all of last year, when both countries set deadlines for undocumented migrants and refugees to leave.

Many children are strangers in their own homeland, having been born or raised abroad, and thousands are arriving alone, without parents or guardians. Families are returning to a country struggling with multiple crises: severe hunger affecting one in five children, mass internal displacement due to climate-fueled events, including severe drought in Afghanistan’s northern provinces that is leading to crops withering and dwindling water supplies for people and their livestock.

Save the Children has seen huge groups of families living in parks and open spaces in major cities in Afghanistan.  
Omid*, 12, was forced to leave Pakistan and move to Afghanistan with his nine brothers and sisters. Save the Children is supporting the family at a transit center.

"I was at the madrasa (a religious school) when my father rushed in and said we had to leave," said Omid. "We packed fast and got in a big truck with others. It was hot. We had no food or water. I want us to find a house, go to school, and live a good life again. I want to feel safe and make something of myself."

Omid’s father, Feroz*, told Save the Children that the family left Pakistan "with empty hands and broken hearts" and currently does not have a home, a job or any way to support his family:

"We Afghans are always on the move. But I did not want this life for my children. We lost our home, our books, even our family photos. We only took what we could carry, mostly clothes and important documents. The rest, we had to leave. It was like fleeing a fire."

Samira Sayed Rahman, Advocacy Director at Save the Children in Afghanistan, said:

"The scale and pace of people returning to Afghanistan right now is completely unprecedented. We are on the brink of a full-scale humanitarian crisis like we’ve never seen before. About every 30 seconds, one child returns or has been forced to return to Afghanistan. That is the equivalent of about a classroom full of children every 15 minutes.

"Many of these children are exhausted, terrified, and unsure how they will survive in a country already grappling with severe hunger and poverty over the past four years. Thousands of children are returning alone, without family or access to basic services.  

"The fallout from massive aid cuts this year has left humanitarian teams overwhelmed by the sheer volume of need. The crisis is severely under resourced, underfunded, and overlooked. And it is children who will be paying the heaviest price."

With increasing strain on resources due to aid cuts this year, Afghanistan faces heightened challenges in providing essential services, particularly for vulnerable populations like returnees, host communities, and children.

Save the Children is calling on countries in the region to ensure that returns to Afghanistan are voluntary, safe, and dignified. Forcing or pressuring children to return, especially those without guardians, can heighten their risk of exploitation, abuse, and neglect.  
The child rights organization is also calling on the international community to urgently increase funding to meet both critical needs at the border upon arrival and provide longer-term assistance to help returnees settle in Afghanistan.

Since March, Save the Children in Afghanistan has supported more than 150,000 child who have returned to Afghanistan. Save the Children’s response is being expanded to include a health and nutrition clinic and multi-purpose cash assistance at the border, child protection services at the transit center and health services in areas that people are returning to in Herat.  

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*Names changed to protect identities

Notes to Editor:

  • Figures are based on IOM data for returns from Iran and Pakistan to Afghanistan up to 31 July 2025, disaggregated by age. Rates were calculated by dividing the total number of children returned in each country by the number of minutes in the relevant time period, then combining the figures.
  • Afghanistan has the largest internally displaced population in South Asia – about 5.5 million people, including 2.7 million children. In 2024, floods displaced over one million people – the highest figure on record for the country.

 

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