I have recently accompanied few foreign journalists to Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province, the epicenter of last year’s earthquake, to visit the internally displaced people. They live in a miserable condition in camps, suffering from cold weather and food shortage.
Hazrat Azim, the father of three children, was asleep when the magnitude 6 earthquake struck Nurgal district on the night of August 31 last year. He lost about 10 members of his family, including his father, as the house collapsed. All his properties were lost in the earthquake. The horrific picture of that rainy and dark night of the incident still haunts him, and he has nightmare since then.
Azim and his brother, along with their families, sought refuge to Pathan camp in Nurgal district. He was talking about the incident while carrying his sick child in the cold tent. He feared that the chilly weather could worsen the situation in the camp since he, similar to all the occupants of the camp, lacked any basic preparation for the winter and were neither allowed nor could afford to use heating appliances. Having no access to health care, sanitation, or clean water, the camp settlers were vulnerable to various diseases and the children suffer from diarrhea and malnourishment.
We also paid a visit to Anderlachak camp in Diwa Gul Valley in Chawkay district, another epicenter of the earthquake. The last year’s survivors also live there in a pathetic situation. The children with bare-feet and torn clothes were walking around. It was a cold valley, where it snows in winter, but there was no access to heating instruments. Close to the camp, there was a hilly site full of the debris and rubbles of the houses collapsed as a result of the quake. To my unmitigated surprise, few families live in some of those shaky, mud-built houses which resisted the earthquake but are prone to further quake and rainfall. However, the residents of the Anderlachak camp were somehow lucky as the World Vision Organization installed a mobile health center with a small team of male and female doctors, supporting them with basic medication and health awareness.
In both the camps, a large number of families could speak Urdu and had been deported from Pakistan. That is, in addition to drought and cut in international aid, the deportation of Afghan refugees from neighboring Iran and Pakistan has compounded the humanitarian crises throughout Afghanistan. Reports say that 2.6 million people were deported in 2025 alone. The bulk of the returnees suffer from lack of job and shelter. For example, I also visited a family in the outskirt of Kabul who had been deported from Iran several months ago. The head of the family was unemployed, having two wives and 11 children. He had to pay the rent of the house and provide food and clothing for his large family no matter how. The man, who suffers from pain on his back, talked to me with tearful eyes in front of his children, saying he could not afford his children’s education or health care. Providing bread and butter and shelter was a challenging responsibility for him.
Afghanistan ranks among the world’s largest humanitarian crises. According to Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, about 22 million of Afghanistan’s population will be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2026. He is cited as saying, “As we look to 2026, we risk a further contraction of lifesaving help at a time when food insecurity, health needs a strain on basic services and protection risks are all rising.”
Despite the severe humanitarian crises, Afghanistan has been marginalized globally and barely make headlines on international media. The economic pressure and cut in global assistance force Afghan families and younger generation to seek a way out of the country or will be displaced internally. Natural disasters, which are likely to continue in the coming years, will put horrible consequences on the country’s population if no preventive actions are taken. Meanwhile, a number of children will lose their lives in the camps as a result of the cold and diseases. Visiting the camps of the IDP, one will think that Afghanistan is in a state of war such as Palestine or Sudan. I see many labor children in Kabul collect garbage, sell plastic bag, and burn esfand (wild rue) on daily basis. Sometimes they eat food stuff that they find inside the garbage. So, they do not eat enough and cannot afford to go to school.
In 2026, more refugees are likely to be deported from Iran and Pakistan, further natural disaster will happen, poverty and unemployment will be compounded, all of which will increase the pain and suffering of men, women, and children across the country. Such challenges will cause further children to drop out of school and add to the street’s underaged laborers, force Afghan youths to flee to the neighboring countries despite all the restriction and deportation, and increase the number of hungry families. The international humanitarian assistance and job creation by NGOs and entrepreneurs will be the only solution to this problem. If the world is seeking to stop migration, it has to engage in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and to the countries in urgent need of food and shelter.
By: Hujjatullah Zia
