Afghanistan: Humanitarian Update, April 2025

UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher visits Afghanistan to assess aid needs amid funding cuts

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (USG/ERC), Tom Fletcher, visited Afghanistan from 27 April to 2 May 2025 to assess the country’s deepening humanitarian crisis and advocate for increased support amid severe funding shortfalls. During his five-day mission, USG Fletcher travelled to Kabul, Kandahar and Kunduz provinces, meeting with de facto authorities (DfA), humanitarian partners and affected communities.

In Kabul, USG Fletcher held high-level meetings with senior members of the DfA, including Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Minister of Economy Qari Din Mohammad Haneef. During his engagements, USG Fletcher raised urgent concerns about the growing number of returnees from Iran and Pakistan, the worsening effects of climate change and the devastating impact of aid cuts on aid delivery, especially the provision of essential services. He stressed the need to ensure that Afghan women humanitarian workers can operate safely and effectively, underlining that humanitarian response cannot be effective — or culturally appropriate — without their participation. “Development is impossible without girls’ education and full participation,” USG Fletcher told officials.

During his visit, USG Fletcher also met with UN agencies, national and international NGOs and frontline humanitarian workers to discuss access challenges, operational constraints, and how best to uphold humanitarian principles in a complex and highly-dynamic operating environment. He praised the resilience of Afghan communities in the face of continued displacement, climate shocks and economic hardship, while warning that millions still urgently need shelter, food and medical care.

In Kandahar Province, USG Fletcher visited the Tahtapul Reception Center, where he met families recently returned from Pakistan, many of whom arrived with no assets or familial and social ties to the country. In discussions with female-headed households, he heard firsthand from widows who spoke of the difficult journeys they had encountered and their long-standing trauma: among returnee populations they remain among the most at-risk. USG Fletcher also toured Mirwais Regional Hospital, where he saw the catastrophic effects of underfunding, especially on wards for premature newborns and malnourished children and pregnant and nursing mothers. “We often talk about funding cuts in general terms — numbers and statistics. But I challenge anyone making these decisions to visit a hospital like this one,” he said. “400 medical centers have been shut down in recent months, denying primary healthcare to over three million people. You see three, four people to a bed, newborns not getting the support they need, and doctors making horrific choices about which lives to save.”

In Kunduz Province, USG Fletcher visited mobile health teams — including female staff directly affected by recent funding cuts, as well as returnee housing sites and mine action activities. He observed how ongoing underfunding, widespread displacement and recurring natural disasters are compounding already severe humanitarian needs. “Why do I think aid cuts will cost lives? Because we are already seeing it,” he said. “Women cycling for three hours to give birth, mines uncleared, babies dying.”

Speaking to international media, USG Fletcher emphasized the urgency of the crisis in Afghanistan. In an interview with AFP, he stated, “We’ve identified 17 crises across the world where our engagement is most urgent, most vital. Afghanistan is high on that list.”[1] In a CNN interview, he reinforced how the funding crisis is forcing many Afghan women humanitarian workers — on whom the aid system heavily depends — to drop out due to wage cuts. “And so the needs are mounting,” he said.[2]

Towards the end of his mission, USG Fletcher announced a new emergency allocation of US$16.6 million to help communities in northern and northeastern Afghanistan affected by a devastating drought. This anticipatory funding includes $6.6 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund and $10 million from the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund. The funding targets Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Takhar, and Badakhshan provinces — areas hit hard by drought, with Faryab reportedly experiencing its worst dry spell in more than five years.

Afghanistan is now among a growing number of countries where UN pooled funds are enabling early, forecast-based humanitarian action — designed to help save lives before crises escalate. USG Fletcher concluded his visit with a strong call to the international community to step up. He emphasized that Afghanistan requires a pragmatic and sustained approach — one that respects humanitarian principles while adapting to complex realities on the ground. He reaffirmed the UN’s commitment to stay and deliver for the people of Afghanistan and urged donors to scale up support to meet urgent and growing humanitarian needs.

Returning to the unknown: Afghan families caught between borders and uncertainty

For decades, Pakistan served as a refuge for Afghans fleeing conflict, poverty, natural disasters and drought. Many who crossed the border in search of safety built entire lives there — raising families, starting businesses and becoming part of local communities. For these long-term residents, Pakistan was more than a sanctuary — it became home.

Since the Government of Pakistan (GoP) began implementing the Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan (IFRP) in September 2023, the movement of Afghans — both voluntary and forced — has surged. By late April 2025, nearly one million Afghans had crossed back into their country of origin. From January to April 2025 alone, over 180,000 people made the difficult journey back to Afghanistan following the launch of the second phase of the plan in 2025 which targeted all illegal foreigners, including Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, and urged them to leave voluntarily by the end of March. Deportations began on 1 April. Since then, UN monitors have witnessed a steady rise in both spontaneous and forced returns throughout April when 120,000 people crossed the border.

For many of these families, the word return is misleading. After years — or even decades — abroad, they are now arriving in a country they barely know, facing daunting questions about where they will live, how they will survive and whether their children will have a future.

• Life after return: navigating an unfamiliar homeland

The challenges facing returnees in Afghanistan are enormous. Most come back with few possessions, limited savings and no homes to return to. Some have never lived in Afghanistan before, while others left as children and return as strangers. The burden of return is compounded by the fragility of the country they are coming back to — a nation grappling with chronic poverty, political instability, natural disasters and recurring climate shocks.

Since 2014, over 4.2 million undocumented Afghans have returned from Pakistan and Iran. With returnees now settling in all 34 provinces, pressure on already-stretched public services is intensifying. Internally displaced populations, water shortages, economic instability and deteriorating infrastructure make reintegration extremely difficult. Without adequate support, families face the risk of secondary displacement, homelessness and extreme poverty.

At key border points like Torkham and Spin Boldak, humanitarian organizations are racing to respond. UN agencies and NGOs have set up reception centers offering life-saving services: emergency food and water, medical care, psychosocial support, legal aid and explosive ordnance risk education. More than 85 per cent of returnees meet vulnerability criteria, including elderly individuals, persons with disabilities and female-headed households. However, the capacity of humanitarian partners has been severely impacted by dramatic and unexpected funding cuts.

OCHA, in collaboration with the Border Consortium and the humanitarian clusters, is supporting the border response and immediate relief efforts in areas of return. But the system is under enormous strain. If Pakistan does not renew Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, another 1.4 million Afghans could face deportation — far exceeding current humanitarian capacity. At a time of dramatic funding shortfalls, humanitarian operations in Afghanistan have already suffered across every sector, from food security and health to protection and shelter.

• A coordinated response

In response to this unfolding crisis, the United Nations and its partners have developed a 2025 Integrated Response Plan. This plan bridges immediate humanitarian needs with longer-term reintegration efforts, focusing on restoring livelihoods, improving access to essential services such as education, WASH, and healthcare and supporting housing solutions in displacement-affected communities.

To deliver this response, humanitarian partners require a total of USD 234 million for comprehensive humanitarian and reintegration efforts. Yet funding alone will not solve the crisis. What is needed now is political will, international solidarity and a commitment to humane migration policies. The story of return is not just about people crossing borders — it’s about lives upended, futures on hold and our collective responsibility to ensure that no one is forgotten.[3]

Left behind by the climate crisis: one widow’s story from Sar-e-Pul

In the drought-stricken village of Koterma in Afghanistan’s Sar-e-Pul Province, 40-year-old widow Bibi Qamar is fighting a daily battle for survival. Two years ago, she lost her husband to cancer. Since then, she has raised her five children alone, with no income and no support system to rely on.

“The land that once provided food for my children has turned to dust,” she says. Last year, the drought wiped out her entire harvest. With no food or water, Bibi feared losing her youngest child to starvation. Her two eldest children, just 10 and 13, now walk four hours each day to fetch water using donkeys. Some nights, they go to bed hungry. “They wake up every morning asking if there is food. I don’t have an answer for them anymore.”

To cover her husband’s medical treatment, Bibi sold the last piece of land she owned. Today, her family depends entirely on humanitarian rations, which are not enough. “Jobs are scarce, and entire villages are caught in the same cycle of need,” she says.

• A country on the climate frontline

Bibi’s struggle is a snapshot of the growing crisis across Afghanistan, one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. Ranked sixth on the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index and eighth by the INFORM Climate Change Risk Index, Afghanistan is facing more frequent and intense environmental shocks.

According to the World Bank, between 1951 and 2023, Afghanistan’s mean annual temperature rose by approximately 2.46°C — more than double the global average. Projections indicate that by 2030, annual droughts could become the norm across many parts of the country.[4]

Between 2020 and 2025, repeated droughts have dramatically weakened people’s coping capacities. Groundwater levels have fallen by as much as 30 meters in some regions. Although the 2023–24 El Niño was expected to improve rainfall, the eastern and northeastern provinces saw precipitation deficits of up to 55 per cent. With La Niña conditions expected to follow, bringing hotter and drier weather, the outlook is bleak.[5]

Compounding the crisis, Afghanistan’s water and sanitation infrastructure remains severely underdeveloped, leaving millions exposed. In response, humanitarian agencies — including the UN and national and international NGOs — have prioritized coordinated drought assistance in four of the worst-hit provinces: Badakhshan, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul and Takhar.

• Hope for livelihoods and climate solutions

Bibi’s story reflects a broader crisis unfolding across Afghanistan. Humanitarian support has helped her family survive – but not rebuild. With no job opportunities in her village and her eldest son too young to work, Bibi dreams of learning tailoring or embroidery to earn a living. “If you don’t help us with livelihood support, we will be in disaster,” she says.

Bibi calls on aid organizations and authorities to invest in long-term solutions — including wells, reservoirs, irrigation systems, drought-resistant seeds, and better farming tools. “If we had access to better farming methods, we wouldn’t have lost everything,” she says.

Bibi Qamar’s story is just one of many – but it brings to life the daily struggles of millions affected by climate-driven hardship. It also highlights the urgent need for scaled-up humanitarian assistance and investment in climate resilience. Without action, families like Bibi’s will face hunger, displacement and despair. But with the right support, a future of dignity, self-reliance and opportunity is still possible.[6]

[1] Despite war’s end, Afghanistan remains deep in crisis: UN relief chief. France 24. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250430-despite-war-s-end-afghanistan-remains-deep-in-crisis-un-relief-chief

[2] U.N.: 23 million people in Afghanistan are in need of life-saving assistance. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/30/world/video/afghanistan-humanitarian-crisis-fletcher-intv-ctw-0423010aseg2-ctw-cnni-world-fast

[3] Integrated response plan for Afghan returnees from Pakistan (border response and reintegration response in areas of return) - Afghanistan (2025) ReliefWeb. Available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/integrated-response-plan-afghan-returnees-pakistan-border-response-and-reintegration-response-areas-return

[4] World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal – Afghanistan. Available online: https://climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/country/afghanistan/climate-data-historical

[5] Afghanistan: Anticipatory Action Framework for drought - 2025. Available online: https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-anticipatory-action-framework-drought-2025

[6] This article was produced with the support of OCHA Afghanistan colleagues at the sub-national level, Nova Ratnanto and Mohammad Yasin Hemmat.