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About UNHCR: Having entered the fifth decade of their displacement, Afghan refugees constitute one of the largest protracted displacement crises of our time. Over the years, the region has remained in flux and return movements have been interspersed with waves of emigration, sporadic flows of refugees, and exponential internal displacement. COVID-19 has pushed millions of vulnerable people further into poverty, with potential implications for population movements within the region and further afield. Hundreds of thousands remain further afield, notably in Germany, other European Union Member States and Turkey. Between 2002 and 2020 an estimated 7 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan, with more than 5.2 million being refugees who have voluntarily repatriated with UNHCR’s assistance. Refugee returns during the last three years have been far lower than in previous years, with 2,147 Afghan refugees returned from Pakistan (1,092), Iran (939), and other countries (116) in 2020, the lowest return figure that could be attributed to the deteriorating political, security and economic situation in Afghanistan and the impact of COVID-19. These returns have taken place against a backdrop of increased internal displacement due to conflict and natural disaster. OCHA, estimates that overall, nearly five million persons have been displaced since 2012 and have not returned to their place of origin. According to 2022 Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs Overview, following 40 years of war and an already dire situation of increasing hunger, economic decline, price rises in food and other essential needs, and rising poverty over 2021, the people of Afghanistan faced intensified conflict, the withdrawal of international forces and then the takeover of the country by the Taliban in August 2021. The resulting political, social and economic shocks have reverberated across the country with a massive deterioration of the humanitarian and protection situation in the 4th quarter of 2021 and the outlook for 2022 remaining profoundly uncertain. As per the 2022 HNO and HRP, a record 24.4 million people in Afghanistan are projected to be in humanitarian need, up by over 30 percent since the start of 2021, and amounting to over 59 percent of the entire population. The urbanization poses challenges as more people move to urban centers due to the lack of services in rural areas. Afghanistan is a host country for some 72,000 Pakistani refugees from North Waziristan Agency (NWA) in Khost and Paktika Provinces, and more than 380 asylum-seekers and refugees of various nationalities in Kabul and other urban centers, individually registered under the UNHCR mandate. Refugees constitute one of the most vulnerable populations in the country. They face significant legal challenges due to the fact that the National Law on Asylum still has not been enacted. UNHCR provides international protection and finds solutions to the refugee situation in Afghanistan building upon the ongoing consultations within the context of the Support Platform for the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR) and the Global Compact on Refugees. While ongoing security challenges remain significant, there is also an opportunity at present for Afghanistan’s gradual progression on the path towards peace and stability, which could pave the way for the long-awaited solution of voluntary repatriation. UNHCR expanded the Priority Areas of Return and Reintegration (PARR) 50 areas in 2022. Of these, four are located within the South East Region that is covered by UNHCR Field Office Gardez. Full, explicit and impactful inclusion of returning refugees into national development planning and programming is essential to enable their sustainable reintegration which will in turn solidify and fortify the broader peacebuilding, reconciliation and stabilization efforts, the integral linkages between timely, inclusive and forward-looking planning for return and reintegration and the three overarching pillars of Afghanistan’s National Peace and Development Framework (ANPDF II) for 2021-2025, as well as relevant implementation mechanisms, including the National Priority Programs (NPPs): Peace-building: ensuring that the imperative of voluntary return and reintegration is firmly embedded in relevant peace processes and any subsequent agreement with a view to enabling returning refugees to become part of cohesive and harmonious communities and to participate in peace-building and reconciliation efforts; Market-building: capitalizing on the human capital, skills and assets acquired by refugees in host countries to support market-building efforts and address human resource gaps, including through return of qualified individuals, private sector investments or opportunities for regional connectivity; and State-building: advancing inclusion of the displaced in development processes, planning and programmes; with particular focus on enhancing absorption capacity and delivery of quality services and ensuring rights through targeted humanitarian, development, and peace (triple nexus) investments in priority areas of return and reintegration, building resilience of communities as a whole; in full alignment with the strategic long-term approach to peacebuilding outlined by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

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