Returnees

Goalkeepers: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Conor Hazard, Luke Southwood

Defenders: Paddy McNair, Ryan Johnson, Daniel Ballard, Ciaron Brown, Conor Bradley, Trai Hume, Brodie Spencer, Eoin Toal, Terry Devlin, Ruairi McConville

Midfielders: George Saville, Ali McCann, Shea Charles, Jamie McDonnell, Paul Smyth, Isaac Price, Ross McCausland, Ethan Gailbraith, Justin Devenny, Jamie Donely

Attackers: Josh Magennis, Dion Charles, Callum Marshall, Jamie Reid

Noorgal, Kunar, Afghanistan – Four months ago, Nawab Din returned to his home village of Wadir, high in the mountains of Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province, after eight years as a refugee in Pakistan.

Today, he lives in a tent on his own farmland. His house was destroyed nearly three weeks ago by the earthquake that has shattered the lives of thousands of others in this region.

“We are living in tent camps now,” the 55-year-old farmer said, speaking at his cousin’s shop in the nearby village of Noorgal. “Our houses were old, and none were left standing … They were all destroyed by big boulders falling from the mountain during the earthquake.”

Din’s struggle captures the double disaster facing a huge number of Afghans. He is among more than four million people who have returned from Iran and Pakistan since September 2023, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The August 31 earthquake killed about 2,200 people and destroyed more than 5,000 homes, compounding a widespread economic crisis.

“We lost everything we have worked for in Pakistan, and now we lost everything here,” Din adds.

Until four months ago, he had been living in Daska, a city in Pakistan’s Sialkot District, for eight years after fleeing his village in Afghanistan when ISIL (ISIS) fighters told him to join them or leave.

“I refused to join ISIL and I was forced to migrate to Pakistan,” he explains.

His exile ended abruptly this year as the Pakistani government continues its nationwide crackdown on undocumented foreign nationals.

He describes how Pakistani police raided his house, taking him and his family to a camp to be processed for deportation. “I returned from Pakistan as we were told our time there was finished and we had to leave,” he says.

“We had to spend two nights at Torkham border crossing until we were registered by Afghan authorities, before we could return to our village.”

This struggle is echoed across Kunar. Some 12km from Noorgal, in the village of Barabat, 58-year-old Sadat Khan sits next to the rubble of the home he had been renting until the earthquake struck.

Khan returned from Pakistan willingly as his health was failing and he could no longer find work to support his wife and seven children. Now, the earthquake has taken what little he had left.

“I was poor in Pakistan as well. I was the only one working and my entire family was depending on me,” he tells Al Jazeera. “We don’t know where the next meal will come from. There is no work here. And I have problems with my lungs. I have trouble breathing if I do more effort.”

He says his request to local authorities for a tent for his family has so far gone unanswered.

“I went to the authorities to request a tent to install here,” he says. “We haven’t received anything, so I asked someone to give me a room for a while, for my children. My uncle had mercy on me and let me stay in one room in his house, now that the winter is coming.”

One crisis out of many

The earthquake is only the most visible of the crises that returnees from Iran and Pakistan are facing.

“Our land is barren, and we have no stream or river close to the village,” says Din. “Our farming and our life depend entirely on rainfall, and we haven’t seen much of it lately. Other people wonder how can we live there with such severe water shortage.”

Dr Farida Safi, a nutritionist working at a field hospital set up by Islamic Relief in Diwa Gul valley after the quake, says malnutrition is becoming a major problem.

“Most of the people affected by the quake that come to us have food deficiency, mostly due to the poor diet and the lack of proper nutrition they had access to in their village,” she explains. “We have to treat many malnourished children.”

Kunar’s Governor, Mawlawi Qudratullah, told Al Jazeera that the Kunar authorities have started building a new town that will include 382 residential plots, according to the plan.

This initiative in Khas Kunar district is part of the national programmes directed by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, with an objective of providing permanent housing for Afghan returnees. However, it is unclear how long it will take to build these new homes or if farmland will also be given to returnees.

“It will be for those people who don’t have any land or house in this province,” Qudratullah said. “And this project has already started, separate from the crisis response to the earthquake.”

But for those living in or next to the ruins of their old homes, such promises feel distant. Back in Noorgal, Nawab Din is consumed by the immediate fear of aftershocks from the earthquake and the uncertainty of what comes next.

“I don’t know if the government will relocate us down in the plains or if they will help us rebuild,” he says, his voice heavy with exhaustion. “But I fear we might be forced to continue to live in a camp, even as aftershocks continue to hit, sometimes so powerful that the tents shake.”

Herat, Afghanistan – At the Islam Qala border, the relentless wind carries stinging dust that clings to skin as temperatures soar to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), transforming the ground into a scorching furnace.

Families huddle in narrow strips of shade, children protecting their faces with scarves as they await assistance.

For many, this harsh landscape represents their first glimpse of home after years in exile.

Since September 2023, more than four million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan, almost 1.5 million of them in 2025 alone. Simultaneously, International Organization for Migration (IOM) data reveals nearly 350,000 Afghans were displaced within the first four months of the year, including internal displacement and cross-border migration.

This mass movement stems primarily from deteriorating economic conditions and escalating climate change impacts.

In Iran, Afghans were not merely temporary workers; they were vital to the economy, filling essential roles in construction, agriculture, and manufacturing. Their departure has created significant gaps in Iran’s workforce, while those returning face profound uncertainty in Afghanistan.

“Now I have nothing – no job, no home, and no one to turn to,” says Maryam, a widow with two children, who had lived in Iran for six years.

Despite suffering from kidney problems, her greatest pain comes from watching her 15-year-old son, Sadeq, search for work instead of attending school. He keeps his educational aspirations secret to spare his mother additional worry. For Maryam, this unspoken dream weighs heavier than any physical ailment.

The World Bank’s 2025 Development Update indicates Afghanistan’s economy remains precarious.

The massive influx of returnees has intensified unemployment pressures, with an estimated 1.7 million additional young people expected to enter an already overwhelmed labour market by 2030. Without substantial investment in skills development, entrepreneurship, and job creation, many may be forced to migrate again.

Since 2024, IOM has provided skills training to nearly 3,000 returnees, internally displaced people, and vulnerable host community members. The organisation has also supported more than 2,600 businesses — 22 percent of which are owned by women — helping to generate almost 12,000 jobs, including over 4,200 for women.

While these initiatives bring crucial stability and dignity, they represent only a fraction of what is needed. With increased funding, IOM can provide greater stability, reduce repeat migration risks, and help returnees rebuild dignified lives.

This photo gallery was provided by the International Organization for Migration.

Uprooted by the ongoing violent conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), locals in the Bahunde chiefdom of North Kivu are lamenting the dire humanitarian conditions they have faced since their return. The Congolese, mainly from the Bishange and Luzirantaka areas, previously fled their homes when they were caught between the DRC army and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels.

In a letter to the global humanitarian community, the returnee crisis committee highlighted how food insecurity affects thousands of households across the Bishange and Bitonga zones. They report that since returning to their homes, residents have received no assistance, despite losing everything during violent clashes in their communities.

“The food and non-feeding needs are enormous because we lost everything during the armed violence in our zone,” the returnees stated in the letter. “We call on humanitarian organisations to take this question seriously because we are already recording cases of serious malnutrition due to a lack of food. We call on international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to save lives.”

The locals returned to their villages after the area was occupied by M23 rebels, following intense clashes with government forces.

The fighting devastating the DRC has lingered for decades, with M23 rebels, among others, waging a war against the government. The conflict is deeply rooted in long-standing ethnic, political, and economic tensions in the country’s eastern region. After defecting from the Congolese army, a Tutsi-dominated rebel group founded the M23 in 2012. The group accused the DRC government of refusing to adhere to the 2009 peace agreement, particularly regarding protecting Tutsi communities and political inclusion. They were defeated in 2013 after capturing Goma, a bustling city in the country, forcing them to flee to Rwanda and Uganda. 

The group re-emerged in 2021 and launched a new offensive in 2022, rapidly gaining territory in North and South Kivu provinces. By early 2025, M23 had seized major cities like Goma and Bukavu, displacing millions and triggering a humanitarian crisis. The DRC government, the United Nations, and several Western powers accused Rwanda of providing direct military support to M23, including troops, weapons, and logistical aid. A 2025 UN report, for instance, concluded that Rwanda exercised “command and control” over M23 operations, with thousands of Rwandan troops active in eastern Congo. 

Rwanda, however, denied these allegations, claiming its actions are defensive and aimed at neutralising the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), a Hutu rebel group in the DRC linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Analysts argue that Rwanda’s motivations go beyond security concerns, pointing to its interest in controlling mineral-rich territories in eastern Congo. The resurgence of M23 is widely seen as a proxy strategy by Kigali to assert regional influence and secure access to valuable resources like gold, coltan, and cobalt. The conflict remains unresolved despite international pressure and sanctions, with peace efforts complicated by deep mistrust and competing regional interests.