Kabul, Dec 19 || As many as 2.17 million Afghans have been forcibly deported from Iran and Pakistan, with children comprising more than 60 per cent of returnees, according to the United Nations.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Afghanistan has been facing one of the world's largest displacement and returnee crises as Iran and Pakistan have been forcibly deporting Afghans.
By October 9, approximately 2.17 million Afghan nationals have been deported from Pakistan and Iran, with more than 60 per cent of them being children, placing a burden on child protection systems, education, and healthcare, Afghanistan's news agency reported.
The UNDP emphasised that the young and rural population in Afghanistan is facing overlapping crises. Economic restrictions, poverty, gender inequality and deportation of refugees from neighbouring nations have increased Afghanistan's vulnerability and risk of long term stability.
It warned that the deportation of returnees has placed pressure on fragile infrastructure and essential services of Afghanistan, which include housing, water, sanitation, healthcare, and food security, sectors already weakened by years of conflict and economic collapse.