Taliban clampdown on women forces UN to close aid centres for Afghan returnees

FILE PHOTO: An Afghan family rests, as they head back to Afghanistan after Pakistan started to deport documented Afghan refugees, near Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, September 1, 2025. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz/File Photo

GENEVA (Reuters) -The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has closed eight centres providing support to Afghan refugees forced back to the country because Taliban authorities are preventing female U.N. staff from entering them, an official said on Friday.

The United Nations says Pakistan is driving Afghan refugees back home against their will, warning that around 1 million people could be affected. In the first week of September alone, nearly 100,000 people crossed back, UNHCR data showed.