Post-return Practices and Experiences of Returnees in Afghanistan

The WP8 Afghan country survey report presents descriptive findings from a quantitative study of return experiences and conditions among Afghan returnees. A total of 416 individuals were randomly selected and surveyed across four provinces—Kabul, Herat, Mazar-e Sharif, and Kandahar—using a two-stage stratified sampling strategy in which returnee settlements were first randomly chosen and, in a second stage, individual returnees were randomly selected for interviews. The in‑person survey, implemented with SurveyCTO between December 2023 and January 2024, documents socio-demographic profiles, return pathways, reintegration conditions, and future intentions in a rapidly changing return context.

The findings highlight the multi-layered and often precarious nature of return and reintegration, characterised by socio-economic vulnerability, limited access to basic services, and high levels of psychological distress. Although many returnees demonstrate moderate levels of hope and resilience, nearly half report detention abroad and most have returned due to forced deportation or an inability to secure legal residency in host countries, with reintegration further hindered by widespread unemployment, financial hardship, and only limited, largely emergency‑oriented institutional support. In this context, family and religious/spiritual resources emerge as core coping mechanisms, partially compensating for gaps in state and international assistance.

Against this backdrop, the report identifies critical implementation deficits in Afghanistan’s return governance architecture and calls for targeted, rights‑based interventions that strengthen the operational capacity of the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation, expand tailored reintegration packages and basic service provision, promote community‑led social cohesion initiatives, and better coordinate humanitarian, governmental, and international actors to support sustainable return and reintegration.