A Hard Journey Home: Stories of Return, Loss, and New Beginnings
A Hard Journey Home: Stories of Return, Loss, and New Beginnings
After decades spent building lives across the border, thousands of Afghans are now returning from Pakistan every day – many pushed out by mounting pressure, restrictive policies, and deteriorating living conditions, while others face sudden, forced deportation. At the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, families arrive exhausted and anxious, carrying little more than the uncertainty about how they will rebuild their lives at home.
Seventy-year-old Rustam is among those who have recently crossed back. His voice trembles as he describes the abrupt end to a lifetime in Pakistan. “We were forcibly deported,” he says.
“Our belongings were left in Pakistan and they didn’t give them back to us. We need land, we need food, we need everything.”
Rustam, an elderly man from Pul-e-Archin, returned to Afghanistan after nearly 40 years in Pakistan.
Stories like Rustam’s are common. After years – or even generations – spent in Pakistan, many families are returning to Afghanistan without resources, documentation, or support networks. With limited access to housing, healthcare and livelihood opportunities, and deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation – particularly for women and girls – returnees face significant protection concerns from the moment they arrive.
Omarkhail, a 60-year-old father of eight, spent 46 years in Pakistan, working as a vegetable seller to support his family. Living with kidney problems and constant worry, he recalls a lifetime spent in limbo.
Omarkhail, 60, has returned to Afghanistan after spending 46 years in Pakistan.
“I spent my entire life there, and all of it passed in waiting,”
“Every day I worried that the landlord would throw me out of the house. It was a foreign country. All our life passed in waiting and fear. And now that I have returned to my own country, I see nothing.”
Protection at the Border
With support from European Union Humanitarian Aid, UNHCR has reinforced its presence at major border points, monitoring protection risks and providing immediate protection services to those coming home, often after years spent in Pakistan. Protection teams conduct registration and vulnerability screenings, ensuring that returnees understand their rights and know where to access services.
Carrying the weight of their past and hopes for the future, as Afghan returnees make their way through Torkham border.
These screenings allow UNHCR to identify urgent protection risks – including family separation, documentation gaps, exposure to exploitation, safety concerns for women and children, and medical emergencies – and to coordinate onward referrals to services in areas of return.
“I hope UNHCR’s support can help us rebuild our lives,” adds Omarkhail.
Beyond the Border
Thanks to donors such as the European Union, UNHCR and partners continue to assist families beyond the border crossing, including with skills training, women’s protection, and shelter.
As communities absorb growing numbers of returnees, UNHCR works alongside humanitarian and development partners to promote safe, dignified, and sustainable reintegration – ensuring that returnees, like Rustam and Omarkhail, are not left to navigate this journey alone.
