The transition has also led to acute deprivation. A recent survey conducted by Save the Children among returnee families and their host communities found that 99 per cent do not have enough food to last even the next one to two months.

In the dusty borderlands of southern Afghanistan, nearly 50,000 Afghan children crossed over from Pakistan in the first two weeks of April, many of them stepping onto Afghan soil for the first time in their lives. These children are part of a growing exodus of undocumented Afghans being forced out of Pakistan following the expiry of a government deadline at the end of March. Since September 2023, nearly a million Afghans, 545,000 of them children, have returned, often with little more than a few belongings in hand and no clear idea of what lies ahead.

At a reception center in Kandahar, Save the Children operates mobile clinics providing basic health, nutrition, and sanitation services to the influx of returnees. But as more families arrive, the needs are quickly outpacing the available resources.

Among the new arrivals is Omer*, a 30-year-old father of five who was born and raised in Pakistan. “I still cannot believe what has happened. I have lost everything overnight,” he said. “The only things I managed to bring were my children’s clothes, a few blankets, and some basic kitchen utensils. That is all.”

Omer’s words echo the despair of many returnees now finding themselves strangers in what is officially their homeland. “I have no home, no place to go,” he added. “I have lived my entire life in Pakistan, so being here, I feel like a stranger.”

Lacking Documentation

The consequences for Afghan children, many of whom were born in Pakistan, enrolled in schools, and unfamiliar with Afghanistan’s language, systems, and hardships are particularly stark. According to Save the Children, nearly two-thirds of the children who returned from Pakistan are not enrolled in school. Most lack the documentation necessary to register, although more than two-thirds had been attending school in Pakistan.

The transition has also led to acute deprivation. A recent survey conducted by Save the Children among returnee families and their host communities found that 99 per cent do not have enough food to last even the next one to two months. Families have been forced to take desperate measures: shrinking meal portions, restricting adults’ food so children can eat, and depending on borrowed food or charity.

“I said goodbye to my friends in Pakistan. They were crying. I cried too,” said 15-year-old Raihana*, who returned with her mother and three siblings. “Afghanistan is very cold for us. We don’t have proper winter clothes. My sister and brother got sick, so we came here for treatment.”

Like many returnees, Raihana and her family sold everything before leaving Pakistan. They now live with their grandfather in a small, rented space. “We are in desperate need of aid,” she said. “We need shelter, clothes, food, medicine—everything.”

Broader Crisis

The struggle is compounded by the broader crisis in Afghanistan. With nearly 23 million people requiring humanitarian assistance, 15 million facing acute food insecurity, and over 3.5 million children acutely malnourished, the country was already in the throes of a deep crisis before the new wave of returnees began. Add to that the estimated 600,000 Afghans who returned from Iran last year and the hundreds of thousands displaced by natural disasters such as the Herat earthquakes and prolonged drought, and it becomes clear why Afghanistan now has one of the world’s largest internally displaced populations – about one in every seven people.

“These returnees are coming back to a country that is already stretched to its limit,” said Arshad Malik, Country Director for Save the Children Afghanistan. “Many of these children were born in Pakistan. Afghanistan is not the place they call home.”

Malik emphasised the dual challenge of responding to urgent humanitarian needs while also investing in longer-term, community-based solutions. “Afghanistan not only needs urgent funding from international donors and governments to address immediate needs,” he said, “but also investments in education, livelihoods, and infrastructure to help displaced Afghans rebuild their lives.”

Waves of Children

Save the Children has scaled up operations since August 2021 and is now working in 21 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. In addition to mobile clinics in border regions like Torkham and Spin Boldak, the organization provides psychosocial support, child protection, and cash assistance to more than 2,500 families who have returned from Pakistan.

Despite the monumental challenges, humanitarian actors hope Pakistan – once a refuge for millions of Afghans during four decades of conflict – will continue to uphold its humanitarian obligations. “Pakistan has generously hosted large numbers of Afghan refugees for many decades,” Malik said. “We hope this demonstration of compassion and solidarity will continue.”

Yet, as the return deadline passes and deportations loom, uncertainty prevails for those who remain in Pakistan without legal status. For those already returned, uncertainty has given way to harsh reality.

Back at the Kandahar reception centre, Save the Children’s health teams treat waves of children suffering from diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, and malnutrition—symptoms worsened by overcrowding, poor shelter, and the stress of displacement.

Omer, like many other returnees, remains in limbo. “Just over a year ago, we were living a normal life,” he said. “Now, everything has changed in the blink of an eye.”

*Names have been changed to protect identity.