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FRANKFURT, GERMANY.
Report and Analysis by Afghanistan Spiegel
Primary Source: Human Rights Watch
Afghanistan is facing large-scale returns and deportations at a time when fundamental human rights protections inside the country have been severely weakened and the Taliban continue to impose extensive restrictions on women and girls, journalists, civil society activists, and other groups at risk.
From Afghanistan Spiegel’s perspective, this is not simply a question of “migrant returns.” The fundamental question is:
To what country are people being returned, under what conditions, and at what level of risk?
When credible evidence exists of arbitrary detention, torture, media repression, severe restrictions on women’s freedoms, and the risk of retaliation against certain returnees, return policies cannot be treated merely as matters of migration management or administrative procedure.
They are directly connected to states’ human rights obligations and to the principle of protecting individuals from being returned to situations where they may face persecution, torture, or other serious harm.
Afghanistan: A Destination Where the Danger Has Not Ended
Human Rights Watch continues to describe the human rights situation in Afghanistan as deeply alarming.
According to the organization’s assessment, the Taliban have implemented policies that severely violate fundamental rights. Women and girls remain barred from education beyond the sixth grade, while severe restrictions on employment, freedom of movement, and participation in public life continue.
Human Rights Watch has also documented widespread censorship, arbitrary detention, torture of journalists and activists, and other human rights violations.
Afghanistan therefore cannot be assessed solely on the basis of whether armed conflict has decreased or increased.
Human security means far more than the absence of fighting in the streets.
When a woman is deprived of her fundamental rights, a journalist may face detention because of their professional work, a human rights defender fears persecution because of past activities, or a former member of the security forces may face retaliation, any claim that return is “safe” must be subjected to rigorous human rights scrutiny.
Millions of Afghans Caught in Migration and Return
Human Rights Watch reported that in 2025, Afghans constituted one of the world’s largest displaced and refugee populations, with approximately 5.8 million refugees and migrants.
Iran and Pakistan alone returned or deported more than two million Afghans during the same year. Among them were people who had been born outside Afghanistan and had never previously lived in the country.
This takes the crisis far beyond an ordinary migration-return process.
For someone who has spent many years—or even their entire life—outside Afghanistan, being sent there may mean arriving in a country where they have no meaningful support network, housing, employment, or sufficient economic resources.
Against the backdrop of Afghanistan’s continuing economic and humanitarian crisis, these circumstances can dramatically increase the vulnerability of returnees.
Journalists and Human Rights Defenders: Return Can Carry a Different Level of Risk
One of the most serious concerns involves individuals who may face danger because of their previous activities, professional identity, or social profile.
Human Rights Watch specifically warned that among Afghans returned from Iran and Pakistan were activists and journalists who had fled Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power.
Such individuals may face retaliation because of their work or past activities.
The organization has also documented arbitrary detention, torture, and ill-treatment of former members of Afghanistan’s security forces who returned to the country.
From Afghanistan Spiegel’s perspective, this highlights a fundamental principle:
Not every Afghan case can be assessed in the same way.
Journalists, human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, certain former government employees, former members of the security forces, and others who may be targeted because of their identity, profession, activities, or history require careful and individualized risk assessments.
A Return Crisis Taking Place During a Humanitarian Crisis
These large-scale returns are taking place while Afghanistan itself remains trapped in a profound economic and humanitarian crisis.
According to Human Rights Watch, by the end of 2025, more than 22 million people were facing food insecurity, with women and girls disproportionately affected.
More than three million children were suffering from acute malnutrition.
During the same year, more than 400 healthcare facilities closed because of funding shortages.
These figures demonstrate an essential reality: the return of very large numbers of people to Afghanistan is not occurring in a vacuum.
Returnees are entering a country whose capacity to provide food, healthcare, housing, employment, and social support is already under severe pressure for millions of people currently living there.
The migration crisis and Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis therefore cannot be treated as separate issues.
The Responsibility of Host Countries
Afghanistan Spiegel recognizes that states have the authority to manage their migration systems. However, that authority cannot replace their human rights obligations or the requirement to conduct individualized assessments of risk.
Particularly where individuals claim that they could face persecution, torture, arbitrary detention, or other serious harm upon return, decisions must be based on careful, independent, and individualized examination.
Collective policies or decisions that disregard the actual conditions inside Afghanistan—or the specific risks facing an individual—can have serious human consequences.
This Is Not Only About Iran and Pakistan
Concerns about returning Afghans are not limited to Afghanistan’s neighboring countries.
According to Human Rights Watch, in July 2025, Germany deported 81 Afghans to Kabul, in what was the second deportation flight since the Taliban returned to power.
At the same time, Afghan resettlement programs in several Western countries have faced delays or suspension, leaving thousands of Afghans who fled the Taliban in uncertain circumstances across different countries.
This creates a serious contradiction.
On the one hand, the international community condemns violations of women’s rights, restrictions on media freedom, the detention of activists, and other human rights abuses committed by the Taliban.
On the other hand, protection and resettlement pathways for some Afghans at risk are being restricted, delayed, or suspended.
Afghanistan Spiegel’s Position
Afghanistan Spiegel believes that after years of reports, statements, and expressions of concern regarding Afghanistan, verbal condemnation is no longer enough.
Every new report documenting human rights violations must not simply become another document in the archives of international institutions.
If credible evidence demonstrates that journalists, human rights defenders, women activists, former members of state institutions, and other identifiable groups may face serious danger upon return, the international community’s responsibility cannot end with expressions of concern.
This evidence must be reflected in actual political, migration, and legal decisions.
Afghanistan Spiegel calls on governments, the United Nations, the European Union, and international human rights institutions to move from reaction to action.
Such action should include:
Preventing the return of individuals who, following an individualized assessment, face a genuine risk of persecution, torture, or other serious human rights violations;
Establishing and maintaining safe pathways for journalists, human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, and other people at risk;
Accelerating relocation and resettlement procedures for individuals who have already been identified or approved under protection and admission programs;
Systematically documenting the situation of people returned to Afghanistan and examining what happens to them after their return;
Providing political and financial support for international mechanisms that document and pursue accountability for serious human rights violations in Afghanistan;
Incorporating human rights benchmarks into political decisions concerning any engagement with the Taliban.
From “Concern” to Accountability
In October 2025, the United Nations Human Rights Council established a comprehensive independent international accountability mechanism for Afghanistan, mandated to investigate serious human rights violations, collect and preserve evidence, analyze documentation, and contribute to potential future justice processes.
This is an important development.
However, the true value of such mechanisms will be measured by whether documentation leads to accountability—and whether accountability ultimately contributes to the actual protection of people.
Afghanistan has already been the subject of extensive documentation of human rights violations.
The fundamental question now is:
What happens after the evidence has been documented?
Afghanistan Spiegel’s Call to the International Community
Afghanistan Spiegel calls on the international community not to remember Afghanistan only when another major incident occurs or another alarming report is published.
Human rights violations are not isolated events that end when a statement of condemnation is issued.
For women and girls deprived of education and participation in public life; for journalists threatened because of their work; for human rights defenders; for families living amid poverty and insecurity; and for Afghans in other countries facing the possibility of forced return, what matters is the result of international action—not the number of statements issued.
We are calling for action, not merely reaction.
Condemnation is necessary, but it is not sufficient.
Expressions of concern are necessary, but without practical follow-up they cannot protect a person facing genuine danger.
Human rights reports must inform political decisions. Evidence must be preserved. Those responsible for serious violations must face credible accountability mechanisms. People at risk must have access to meaningful protection pathways.
And governments considering the return or deportation of Afghans must answer one fundamental question before making such decisions:
Can they ensure that the person being returned will not face persecution, torture, arbitrary detention, or other serious harm?
If such assurance cannot be provided, the protection of human rights and human life must take precedence over short-term political considerations.
Conclusion
Afghanistan’s crisis will not be resolved through further declarations of “deep concern.”
Five years after the Taliban returned to power, the international community already possesses extensive information about the human rights situation in Afghanistan.
The central problem today is not a lack of information.
It is the gap between knowing and acting.
Afghanistan Spiegel believes that every credible human rights report should become a step toward accountability, and every credible warning of danger should be reflected in policies designed to protect human beings.
Afghanistan does not need more statements alone. It needs policies that turn human rights commitments into concrete action.
Primary Source
Human Rights Watch — Afghanistan / World Report 2026
Human Rights Watch’s reporting on Afghanistan covers the situation of women and girls, media freedom, the humanitarian crisis, Afghan refugees and migrants, returns and deportations, and international accountability mechanisms.
Editorial Note
The factual information and statistics presented in this report are based primarily on reporting and documentation by Human Rights Watch. The sections presenting Afghanistan Spiegel’s position, analysis, conclusions, and calls for action are the editorial position of Afghanistan Spiegel and should not be attributed to Human Rights Watch.
