UN and Partners Launch $529.2 Million Afghanistan Return Plan on May 19
The United Nations and partner organizations launched a $529.2 million response plan in Kabul on May 19, 2026, to assist Afghans returning from Iran and Pakistan and help receiving communities absorb the influx.
The 2026 Response Plan for Afghan Returnees projects that 2.7 million Afghans will return between April and December 2026. The projection includes about 1.7 million returns from Iran and 1.1 million from Pakistan.
The movement is expected to put additional pressure on services, housing, livelihoods and protection in Afghanistan, where communities receiving returnees are already facing significant needs. The United Nations said more than half of the returnees are women and children.
A two-part response
The plan requires $529.2 million in total. Of that amount, $100.7 million is designated for assistance at border points, while $428.5 million is allocated to longer-term reintegration support.
Border assistance is intended to address immediate needs as people enter Afghanistan. The reintegration component is focused on helping returnees and host communities manage the consequences after arrival.
According to the plan published by the United Nations in Afghanistan, reintegration activities will target 35 high-priority Afghan districts. The listed areas of support include protection, health, education, water and sanitation, livelihoods and housing.
That range reflects the practical scale of the challenge. Returnees may need help reaching health and education services, securing housing, finding livelihoods and obtaining protection assistance. Receiving communities may also need support as demand for basic services increases.
A large return movement
The United Nations said nearly 5.9 million Afghans had returned from Iran and Pakistan since September 2023. About 600,000 of those returns occurred during the first four months of 2026, according to the response-plan materials.
The new figure of 2.7 million is a projection, not a final count. It covers the period from April through December 2026 and does not establish that every projected return will take place.
The plan also does not state how much of the $529.2 million appeal has been funded. That leaves the eventual scale of assistance dependent on the resources made available for the border and reintegration activities.
Regional pressure
The plan covers people entering Afghanistan from two neighboring countries, making the response a cross-border humanitarian and development issue rather than a challenge limited to individual Afghan districts.
Security conditions near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border add to the regional pressure. In reporting published July 17, the Associated Press described continuing security pressure in the area and competing claims and denials involving militant activity and support. That reporting provides context for the environment in which return and reintegration efforts must operate, but it does not determine the cause of the projected returns.
The United Nations response plan does not attribute responsibility for the returns to a single government, and the available figures do not establish that all returns were forced. The plan instead sets out the assistance that UN agencies and partner organizations say will be needed as people return.
What happens next
The response period runs through December 2026, with assistance divided between border support and reintegration in the 35 priority districts. The next measurable steps are the mobilization of the requested funds, delivery of services at entry points and implementation of support in the districts receiving returnees.
For Afghanistan, the central question is whether health, education, water and sanitation, housing, livelihoods and protection programs can expand quickly enough to meet the projected movement. For Iran, Pakistan and the wider region, the plan provides a framework for managing a return process whose size remains an estimate but whose humanitarian implications are already substantial.
Sources
- UN and NGOs launch US$529 million response plan for 2.7 million Afghan returnees from Iran and Pakistan, United Nations in Afghanistan
- 2026 Response Plan for Afghan Returnees published, United Nations in Afghanistan
- Pakistani troops kill 24 militants in raids as violence escalates in region near Afghanistan, Associated Press
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