Afghanistan’s fragile communities buckle under pressure as millions return home, UNDP says

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The return of millions of Afghan nationals to their home country is placing extreme pressure on already struggling communities, with nine in 10 families in areas with high rates of return now either going hungry, sliding into debt or selling their belongings to survive, according to the United Nations.

A survey released Wednesday by the United Nations Development Program said the return of 2.3 million Afghans so far this year, many of them forced out of neighboring Iran and Pakistan, had “sharply intensified pressure on already fragile systems.”

Afghanistan was already struggling after decades of conflict, recent earthquakes, climate shocks and economic contraction, the UNDP report said, noting that the arrival of millions of returning Afghans “has increased com