Refugee crisis: millions of people between deportation and ruin
In 2026, the Afghan displacement crisis is reaching a new historic peak. While around 3.7 million Afghan refugees are still registered worldwide, a humanitarian wave of returns is erupting within the country (UNHCR 2026). Through draconian pressure and mass deportations from Pakistan and Iran, more than 3.7 million people were involuntarily driven back to Afghanistan in recent months alone – most of them face absolutely nothing (WB 2026a).
Education: the vicious circle of a total ban on learning
Afghanistan remains the only country in the world that strictly prohibits women and girls from education beyond primary level (UNESCO 2026). Around 2.4 million girls are systematically excluded from the secondary school system (UNESCO 2026). Since girls have not been allowed to attend higher schools for years, no qualified female teachers are coming through. By 2030, the country faces an irreparable shortfall of up to 20,000 female educators (UNICEF 2026).
The “Virtue Law” issued in summer 2024 is being enforced with absolute severity in 2026 (BAMF 2026). The female voice has been officially banned in public (OHCHR 2025). Women may now leave their homes only for an urgent reason, fully veiled and accompanied by a male Mahram (BAMF 2024b). UN experts describe this situation as gender apartheid (UN 2026).
The state health system has been financially drained; in the past year alone, more than 422 health facilities had to close (WHO 2026). Because the Taliban also banned women from medical training in December 2024, midwifery care is collapsing (BBC 2024). Maternal mortality is among the highest in the world: statistically, a woman in Afghanistan dies every two hours as a result of pregnancy or childbirth (UNFPA 2025).
Three in four people in Afghanistan – around 28 million individuals – can now no longer meet their basic needs (UNDP 2026). Real wages are falling rapidly, while inflation shot up to 7.6 % in spring 2026 (WB 2026a). The unstoppable influx of millions of destitute returnees has finally overloaded the collapsed labour market; more than one in three young men finds no employment whatsoever (BAMF 2024a).
Humanitarian aid: the blocked “starvation equilibrium”
Humanitarian aid is being deliberately drained: by late summer, the UN aid plan for 2026 is only around a quarter funded, after the USA stopped its funding almost completely (IRC 2026; TG 2026). More than one million children face acute death from starvation (ZEIT 2026).
