IOM is appealing for USD 21 million to provide life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable among the 400,000-plus undocumented Afghans likely to return home from Pakistan before the end of 2016.

The funding request forms part of the UN’s Flash Appeal for Afghanistan, totaling USD 150 million. IOM will concentrate on scaling up assistance to almost 140,000 undocumented Afghan returnees. It will provide transport vouchers to get them back to their home areas, and relief kits with essential items such as clothing, soap, household items and cooking sets through the IOM Transit Center located at the Torkham border.

A further 4,800 families (some 33,000 people) in the districts surrounding Jalalabad City (which hosts the highest densities of returnees) will be provided with emergency shelter ahead of the winter, including insulated tents, gas heaters and blankets, as well as mobile phones, so that their whereabouts can be confirmed.

From 01 July to 10 September 2016, a total of 109,704 undocumented Afghans returned or were deported from Pakistan through the Torkham border crossing. Of those, 87 percent were spontaneous returnees and the remainder deportees. Up to June, only 33,000 had crossed.

“This massive spike in numbers has set off alarms bells,” said Laurence Hart, IOM’s Chief of Mission and Special Envoy to Afghanistan. “We know there are many demands on the international donor community, but it is clear that if we cannot provide urgent assistance to what is nearly half a million people, then this could rapidly become a humanitarian crisis as winter closes in.”

IOM anticipates that returns will occur in far greater numbers following the just-completed Eid Al Adha celebrations. A November 15 cut-off date imposed by the Pakistani Government will require all undocumented Afghans to have acquired machine readable passports and valid visas for Pakistan. New figures bear out these concerns - almost 6,000 people returned yesterday alone.

For further information please contact Nick Bishop at IOM Afghanistan on +93 79 444 59 48; Email nbishop@iom.int