Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Nur Khan Himmat

Returning to Uncertainty: How Afghan returnees from Pakistan are struggling to rebuild their lives

Nur Khan Himmat • Jelena Bjelica •

Some six million Afghans have been forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan since September 2023, almost half of them in 2025, making it one of the largest return movements of any nationality in recent decades. 2.26 million people returned from Pakistan, one million in 2025 alone, amid an intensifying deportation campaign launched in September 2023 […]

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Arrested Development in Kabul: Housebuilding between legal hurdles and rising demand 

Nur Khan Himmat •

Shortly after its return to power in August 2021, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) imposed new curbs on building in the capital. This, together with follow-up regulations issued by the Kabul Municipality and the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, has entirely changed how the building sector operates in the capital and made it […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

The Second Phase of Forced Returns from Pakistan: Afghans tell stories of hardship and misery

Nur Khan Himmat •

The Pakistani government officially began implementing the second phase of its Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan on 1 April 2025 by targeting undocumented Afghans and those holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). To date, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), since 15 September 2023, when Pakistan launched the plan, over 1 million Afghans have returned […]

Migration Read more

Migrating Poppy Cultivation: Afghan poppy farmers in Balochistan

Jelena Bjelica • Nur Khan Himmat •

After the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) banned opium poppy cultivation in April 2022, there was a movement of some farmers from southern Afghanistan into neighbouring regions of Pakistan to grow poppy there. The same migration to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces followed the first Taliban ban on opium in 2000-01. AAN’s Jelena Bjelica, together […]

Economy, Development, Environment Read more

Polio Cases on the Increase in Afghanistan: How is the Emirate handling immunisation? 

Jelena Bjelica • Nur Khan Himmat •

After pausing the roll-out of the vaccination programme twice last year, the Islamic Emirate finally restarted polio vaccination for under-fives in late October 2024. However, it has restricted delivery of the vaccines to mosques and village centres only. No longer will vaccinators be able to go door-to-door. It seems that the pauses and change in […]

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