More Than 1.3 Million Afghans Return Home, Straining Local Communities

In Kabul, officials and residents of surrounding towns are feeling the rumble of a massive influx of people who once fled the country. Over 1.3 million Afghan citizens have crossed into the nation from neighboring Iran and Pakistan this year, the International Organization for Migration reported on Friday.

Many of those returning had spent months or years living in refugee camps where basic services were limited. Now they arrive in villages and cities that were built on narrow infrastructure and stretched already thin supplies of water, electricity and food.

Families from all walks of life—launched rough, middle‑income towns, isolated mountain homes, and urban apartment blocks—are reconciling old homes with the new strains placed on the area. The return has amplified long‑standing shortages of housing and medical clinics and has forced some to mill around the city for jobs they cannot find.

“Families are returning to communities where housing and basic services are already under severe strain,” said Mihyung Park, the International Organization for Migration’s Chief of Mission in Afghanistan. “Winter is now adding another urgent need.”

That comment came after a weather monitoring center signalled developing snowstorms that could cut lines of communication and transport. The proximity of the return wave to winter raises alarm for many newcomers who risk getting trapped or left without essential heating and food.

To fight that risk, IOM’s mission in Kabul is calling for urgent funding to keep newly arrived people safe. “We need funding now to help families find shelter and keep warm before snow cuts access to remote areas,” the IOM mission noted.

As the numbers climbed, IOM pointed out that the current level of support falls short of the needs. “The organization is appealing for donors to close an 8.8 million U.S. dollars inter‑agency funding gap to deliver emergency shelter, winterization kits, and essential household items,” it added.

The 8.8‑million‑dollar shortfall is a gap that local communities are trying to close by redistributing savings, pro‑bono services and sometimes personal borrowing. Yet even with those temporary measures, many families find that the cost of snow‑blocking barriers or simply access to warmed shelters is out of reach.

Officials from the Ministry of Interior reported that new arrivals have begun to line up at the border crossings in Herat and Lashkar Gah, each waiting for government clearance to enter domestic housing zones. In addition, health centers in provincial capitals are experiencing peaks in visitors for routine checks as people enter the country seeking continuous treatment for long‑standing conditions.

The governments of Iran and Pakistan—where many Afghan refugees had lived—had begun granting resettlement opportunities in the early months of 2026. In contrast, Afghanistan’s rapid rise in return numbers has caught its logistical apparatus off‑guard, creating a backlog in processing new batches of arrivals.

In knowledge that the passage from temporary relocation to community reintegration can be fraught, the IOM is coordinating with national and local partners to train local volunteers in building makeshift shelters. The volunteers have been encouraged to use wood and plastic sheeting that will be available from the shortfall packaging, if a payment plan is secured.

In short, the 1.3‑million returnees are reintroducing themselves into a nation braced for a harsh winter. Governance, aid providers, and ordinary citizens will need to cooperate, to keep the backs of refugees safe, and to ensure that the ties they bring back are not broken by unanticipated crises. In the words of IOM’s Park, “if snow cuts access to remote areas, we must be prepared to keep families warm.”