Zakat Foundation of America Assists Returning Families to Afghanistan

November 12, 2025

Who could have imagined that being sent home would become the most terrifying experience of one’s life? 

In Afghanistan, countless families are being forced to return home after years in exile, only to find hunger, hardship, and heartbreak waiting at the border. In recent months, the deportation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and Iran has surged dramatically. Thousands cross back into Afghanistan daily, many with nothing but the clothes they wear and the hope that someone will help them begin again. 

For these returnees, mothers carrying infants, children walking barefoot, elderly men leaning on sticks, Zakat Foundation of America is there, providing emergency relief, food, and safe transport to those who need it most. 

Since the beginning of 2025, our emergency response teams in Afghanistan have reached 18,040 individuals from 2,705 families across multiple provinces, including Nangarhar, Kunduz, and Herat. Working closely with local partners, we’ve distributed food, hygiene kits, and non-food essentials to returning families, ensuring dignity and care in their most vulnerable moments. 

At Torkham border, thousands of Afghan families arrive every day after being deported from Pakistan. Many have lived abroad for decades, their homes in Afghanistan long gone. At Umari Camp near Momand Dara, 1,000 families received emergency relief packages containing rice, sugar, cooking oil, soap, sandals, and tea; these simple items mean survival. 

One mother told our field team, “We came with nothing. You gave us food for our children. You gave us hope.” 

In western Afghanistan, at the Islam Qala border, families returning from Iran faced a similar plight: hunger, exhaustion, and no means to reach their homes. We provided safe transportation and food assistance for 705 families, ensuring they could travel safely to Kabul and 19 other provinces. 

In Nangarhar and Kunduz, another 1,000 families received essential food assistance, 24,500 kilograms of rice, and 5,000 liters of cooking oil, helping prevent hunger and harmful coping mechanisms like child labor and early marriage. 

In the span of one week, 50 large buses carried thousands to safety, 13,750 bottles of water were distributed to fight dehydration, over 2,800 lunches and 2,750 breakfasts were served, and 1,100 children were nourished through emergency meals. 

Each journey was more than transport; it was a bridge to hope, dignity, and belonging. 

These efforts are part of Zakat Foundation of America’s ongoing humanitarian mission in Afghanistan, where we’ve been working for years to strengthen communities through food security, education, health, and emergency response. 

As deportations, earthquakes, and economic hardship continue to shake Afghanistan, Zakat Foundation of America stands by the Afghan people with one unwavering message: you are not forgotten.